The Night
by Shal35
Summary: The team's fighting a band of rebels and Shalimar's been taken, now the team has to get her back before it's too late... CHAPTER 12 IS UP NOW! ALMOST COMPLETE! BRENNAN CONFRONTS KALEB! BRENNAN AND LEXA SAVE SHALIMAR... OR DO THEY? REVIEWS, IDEAS, AND CR
1. Chapter 1

The Night 

Disclaimer: Mutant X is not mine, it doesn't belong to me.

Summary: The team's fighting a band of rebels and Shalimar's been taken, now the team has to get her back, before it's too late... Pairing, some B/S mostly Shalimar - My first fanfic- review!

** _Chapter 1_**

The day was dull and very cloudy, it had been raining all day, and the humidity was strikingly high. It was yet another mission to be done… there was a tip given to Lexa stating that there was going to be something going down at a nearby abandoned warehouse. Naturally, there was no one better for the job, than Shalimar. Brennan would be close with the car, while she scoped the place out for what ever the tipper was referring to.

"So, Shalimar," Lexa said, "You need to find out what this guy was referring to, he sounded as if it was dangerous or something. He hung up the phone so fast I didn't even get a chance to ask if he had more to go by"  
"How do we know it isn't a trap?" Brennan implied. "We don't, that's why Shalimar's going in." Lexa sounded as if she had it all planned out, "She stays hidden and will pick up on their conversation and actions to find out if they're doing anything that will need to be stopped"  
"Well, I'm up for it." Shalimar said sounding almost cheerful about it. Brennan already knew she would be, she's up for action any day… "Ok," Brennan said, "Where do we go?" "You'll take the car," Jesse replied, " here are the directions." he handed him a sheet of paper. He took a look at it and nodded, turning to Shalimar saying, "Ok, ready"  
She smiled, "Give me a minute."

Within 10 minutes they were heading to their designated place, the sky still wasn't letting up, and Shal could see the perspiration building up on the side of Brennan's forehead.

"So, is it hot enough for you?" She smiled.  
He grinned, "Well, if this rain made the air a little more humid, maybe it could be"  
"I like it, it's not so bad, come on, Bren- it's a wonderful night for a hunt, don't you think?" "For you maybe, but for some people, we'd like a little breeze every now and then." He complained. He looked over at her- she was truly remarkable, beautiful in every aspect. She looked at him from the corner of her eye and giggled slightly. He smiled back returning his eyes to the road. He known her for three years now and yet he still couldn't tell her his true feelings, something always came up. Maybe after this little assignment they had he could take her out for a drink and they could spend a little time together.

They pulled up to the parking lot, no car was in sight, and the warehouse was just a few yards away, in case of a quick escape. She smiled at him before getting out of the car.

"Hey!" He called, "If you get into any trouble, get your butt back here, got it"  
"Thanks, Brennan- I got it." She smiled and took off around the building.

Hey all, this is my first fanfic, but I've been reading all of your stories for a while and decided to try it out. Please review, ideas, suggestions, and criticism is all welcomed, Thank You.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Mutant X is not mine, it doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 2

Shalimar Fox, feral feline, one of the strongest mutants ever recorded, now approached the warehouse with swift silence. Her power had grown over the years and with that her mind and intelligence. She figured out things more quickly now than ever before, and she knew that before claiming her look out space, she had to sense the area.

She smelled the air for any odor other than her own, there was definitely an odor. It smelled as if a dog died there recently, or some poor soul of an animal. She also sensed that for an abandoned building, there was sure a lot of recent activity there. The prior scent of old colon and male musk tainted the air, along with various minerals and metals. She wondered what they might've been up to. But she had no time to contemplate these thoughts, people were coming, which meant that she had to make herself scarce, and fast. With a single leap she jumped up on to a ledge of the warehouse, and ducked behind a vent that seemingly looked thrown up there.

A man below, tall with dark hair, and eyes, slim too with the sweet fragrance of a very expensive taste in colon, and style, seemed to be in control of it all. He directed the others to put the large boxes on the side to be arranged later, while a shorter man- but yet an inch or so taller than herself - directed another set of men to gather the rest out of the truck.

"Brennan," She whispered into her comring, "They're moving some kind of boxes… I'm going to get a closer look"  
"Shalimar…" Brennan growled, "Be careful"  
"Yeah, yeah… I know…" She sighed, "What else is new?" She disconnected and went around the vent to where the boxes were stored. She tried to get a sent off them but nothing generated. Using her feral vision she tried to see what was inside, something bulky, and solid. I need a closer look, she said to herself. She decided to go the other way and heard the taller man ask the shorter one to step aside for a moment. She smiled, and followed him. It's always better to get the information first hand, right? She stopped her train of thought when the guy began to speak…

"Seth," the taller one spoke, "How's the inventory coming along? We need it out by tonight, I don't want to be late"  
"I-I know…" the shorter one- referred to as 'Seth' shuddered, "I'm almost finished with it, it's just that the other shipment didn't come in yet. I've made all the calls, but Chip wasn't picking up on me." His voice was a bit of a squeak- it irritated Shalimar a bit, she didn't know why.  
"Look," the taller one growled deeply, making her heart skip a beat, "I don't want any problems, you know he's not going to be pleased with this information. I'm not going to take the heat for this, either you find Chip and get that last shipment, or your not going to be breathing on your own much longer… you know-" he said as an after thought, "scratch out the 'on your own' part…" With that he walked away pulling out his cell phone.  
"W-wa-wait!" Seth stuttered, "Kaleb! Please, look-!" But he was gone, and Seth frighteningly went the opposite way pulling out his phone and pounded the keys. She decided that 'Kaleb's' phone call was more important, he was the leader, and seemed to answer to someone else as well. She carefully went to the other side where she needed her feral senses to kick in, he whispered very clearly to the other party, and intensively listened back with equal effort,

"Look, I know- but you give me a piece of…. of…. vermin to work with and this is the results you get! I told you I need someone with experience… I know, he's been here a while but he's worthless…" "You need to deal with him," it was a man on the other line that spoke, "The rebels need those weapons and equipment, if we're going to do this then I need everyone doing their part. When you get back send Seth straight to me, I'll make sure he's more on point this time. Now, get the boxes and sort them out in their appropriate category, and then put them on the right trucks to be sent to the rest of the rebels, we'll settle the other shipment with Chip, this time- don't tip him, understand"  
"Got it." Kaleb nodded.  
"Did you search the area?" the other man said, "Make sure nobody sees you, if so- well, no words needed right? You what to do in the situation"  
"Yeah, I got it. But I don't think anyone's been here in days… I checked it out, why do you ask though? Something got you jumpy?" Kaleb's voice rose a couple of notches. "Well, let's just say that some of our rebels aren't as loyal as you are. We got a snitch that needs to be sought out, I have a friend working on it now however, just be on the look out. If they snitch to the wrong people we might be delayed a week or two and we might have to do a bit of… uh…. cleaning up"  
"Yeah, but I know for sure that it isn't Seth… he may be a mouse, but he ain't no rat, you know…?" Kaleb said.  
"Yeah, Seth wouldn't dare." the man agreed.  
"So look, I'm going to finish up over here, and get these packages to were they need to go and I think I'm going to hide some of those boxes in the warehouse, to be safe… you know?" "You do that… and report back to me when your finished. As soon as your done," he emphasized. "Ok then," Kaleb said before both said their goodbyes and hung up. He turned back to the workers, and Seth- Shalimar decided it was all she needed and decided to return back to Brennan.

"Hey Bren," She said into her comring, "I think we got something, I'm going to be a minute, I want to make sure I'm not seen, there are a lot of them roaming the area"  
"Ok Shal, just get back here, ok? This place is giving me the creeps." Brennan said making her smile, "Ok, Bren"  
As soon as she turned she felt she had good ground, and continued with her mission to get off the roof quietly and safely, but a shingle from the unstable roof gave a creek and stopped Kaleb right in his tracks. Just as he turned around the shingle slipped, as did Shalimar's foot, and gave way under her weight. Kaleb growled loudly and just as she caught herself he leaped and pulled her off of the roof, along with some more of the unstable shingles. She hit the ground hard, and her vision blurred for a moment, but she recovered quickly. Bouncing to her feet, she looked around to bear her surroundings, there were a lot of guys around- but her feral cockiness told her she could take them if she had to.

"Well, well- I thought I smelled something, what a stench you felines leave behind." Kaleb said just as Seth came running over. That's when the smell hit her… he was a feral too but not feline- canine? Yes, no wonder her feline senses made her jump at his growl. Seth also smelled like a feral too- a vermin, a mouse, rat, what ever- she instantly hated him… she didn't know why.

"So… you boys up to no good?" she played coy. "Hey Gary!" Kaleb called, "We got a CODE RED." He smiled, "You're such a pretty little kitty. I think we should have a little talk, at my house"  
"No," Seth said starting to sweat, "She's a feline! Waste her."

She wasn't liking what her senses was telling her… she wanted to leave, maybe it was because of Kaleb, being a canine or maybe it was because of all the people gathering around her closing her in, making her feel caged. I got to get out of here! she screamed inside her head, yet she remained smug.

"10-40, Gary." Kaleb said not removing his eyes from hers.  
"Got it." Gary said.

She looked over to Gary, and flashed her eyes into feral mode- that beautiful golden color revealing her feline untamed nature, a warning growl released from her throat and she positioned herself into combat mode. But a swift trick from Kaleb became her ruin, he pulled out a needle and stabbed it into the base of her neck, "You came to play around the wrong ally, kitty." Kaleb said.

She wasn't about to give up, and she leaped up as high as she could and kicked Kaleb straight in the jaw. He stumbled but if she hurt him it was beyond her. She fell landing on her side and feeling as if her head would explode. He must have put a lot of sedative in that one vile. The world started to spin slowly, and voices became slurred up unto the point of them being incomprehensible. Before her vision and hearing completely gave in the last thing she remembered was Kaleb smiling while picking her up, saying something with the words 'all mine".

Hey all, so how's this going so far? Thank you for the reviews: Tunder28, clarkson04, JediFeral, ShalBrenForever, and love conquers- all of you were the first to give me reviews, thank you- please though, everyone- more reviews, these stories are for your entertainment, and I'd like to know how I'm doing with this… Thank You! 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Mutant X is not mine-it doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 3

Brennan waited and waited, but still no Shalimar. He tried her comring but she didn't answer, he was beginning to feel uneasy about the situation, this wasn't like her, she only said a minute, not 10-15 minutes! Ok, forget it, he thought, I'm going to check this out. He got out of the car and went around the back of the warehouse, but no one was there. He decided to check out the other side- the side Shalimar first went on. But there also he stood alone, and he could feel frustration settle,

"Shal!" He shouted not giving a damn if the world heard, the night was hot and humid, not a single cloud, he'd fry a bastard if he must, "Shal! Dammit, you there!"

He felt frustration turn sickeningly into fear, she wasn't answering, and if she wasn't answering then it was either that she turned her comring off, or she was in trouble…. He had a feeling he hit the nail with the second assumption. He knew he had to act fast, every precious minute that passed was a wasted effort to find her.

"Jess, Shal is in trouble, she's not responding when I call her. Can you trace her?"

"Hold on," Jessie said, "Shal!" he said rather loudly, "Shal!"

"Jess!" Brennan said very annoyed and heading back to the car, "She can't hear you, I tried remember? Trace her comring."

"Ok… hey, good news at least, she's still there." He sand with bit of enthusiasm, "Head over by the doors of the warehouse, she's right there."

His heart jumped and immediately and he raced over there wondering if she was hurt badly, and what those sons of bitches did to her… if they did anything to hurt her he'd…

"What?" He stopped and bent down, "What the hell? Jessie!"

"What?" He asked, "She all right?"

"She's not here… but her comring is… nice going."

"Well, she must have dropped the comring or something when they took her, they couldn't have possibly known that it was a communication device." Jessie reasoned.

"Look, you don't know that, you don't know what they know. Hell, you don't even know whst they are, some guy tells us something's going on and we jump into muddy water, now look, Shalimar's missing, andwe have no clue as to where she is, or who the hell these people are. Nice going, I'm going to cruise around and see if I can see any of those big truck I saw there, as for the cars… well the only one who knows what they look like is missing so I'm gonna go see what I can find, I'll check in every half - hour ok?"

Jessie knew it was a statement, not a question, but he opted not to object, "Ok, Bren, but be careful."

"No!" Lexa said quickly, but Brennan had shut off his ring for any further interuption- that didn't stop her from ranting at Jessie back at Sanctuary, and Brennan knew this, but he focused on the mission ahead… find Shalimar, no matter what the cost.

Darkness, pure darkness with the faint throb of a terrible pain. That was all Shalimar Fox felt as she laid on what seemed to be a stone bed. The ache seemed so far away that she knew once fully at her senses it would be a son of a bitch to ignore. She tried to open her eyes but they seemed so heavy! What ever they drugged her with was more than she ever had at once. They must really knew their stuff when it came to Ferals… wait!

Recollection came to her suddenly, Brennan… roof… they boxes with the unknown contents… that guy, what was his name…? K….Ka…..Kaleb! That's right! With that mousey guy, Seth! Mouse…. Rat…. He was a feral, a rodent feral, and Kaleb was a canine, ugh, she moaned… canines were just as cocky as felines… maybe even more so.

She tried again to open her eyes, and this time they obeyed, followed by a blinding headache. Ugh, she moaned again… but this time because of the pain. She heard foot steps, and smelled the rodent sent from where she stood- she really didn't like him.

"O-Okay… I got Chip on and he apologizes for the screw up, he says that he will make all the necessary arrangements to fix his mistake, he assures that his a-assistant will be no more… I-if u know what he means…" He was on the phone, she observed, and was completely oblivious to the fact that she kept her eyes glued to him, and her ears glued to the conversation.

"Look, you tell me now-" but the voice was cut off by Seth's squeal- he saw her, and he dropped the phone in the process.

"See something you like?" Her voice was low and threatening, and her feline nature wanted so badly to kick this rats ass, just for the hell of it.

"KALEB! He shouted, come quick! It's- I-I mean sh-she's a-aw-awa-awake!" He ran out as fast as he could- which looked like a bit of a walk for her- and came back cowardly hiding behind Kaleb as he stood tall and nicely dressed once again.

"Hello, Kitty. Had a nice sleep? For a feline, you slept quite steadily… almost no movement. Most felines like to stretch with an occasional purr here and there. But then again, it must be that wall holding you back… right?"

"Must be," she mused.

"Can you question her a-and k-k-kill her, please?" Seth said pathetically.

"Aw, Seth, boy, where is the fun in that? You know, I sense tension in you when you're around her, come on, she's a harmless little kitten, isn't that right?" He walked up to her, and she tried hard to push that little fear that crept along her spine down, he sensed fear, just as she could… but what he had wasn't fear at all, it was sense of control, and that was not a good feeling corsing through her body.

"I wouldn't get too close," she warned, "I'm not as nice as you think."

He now stood so close she smelled the expensive cologne seep out under her nose, "I'll stand as close as I want to you Kitty, and if you so much dare as to tryto lay a finger on me, I'll snap your neck in two- got it? Don't think that you are anyway, shape or form in control here, you are my slave so to speak, what becomes of you is up to me, so if you behave little kitty, we might actually get to negotiate your life. Sounds fair?- Good, now listen up…"

Hey all! I am so sorry it took so long for this chapter to go up, but my b/f got home from boot camp! He's now a U.S. Marine! So I spent the 10 days free he had with him, he left again giving me time to write the next chapter- thanks so much for the reviews, keep them up! 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X- they are not mine! 

Chapter 4

Jessie furiously tapped on the key board he checked the video cameras around the area, and found that they weren't much help in finding the license plate off of the cars the men drove. But one camera did help with what happened to Shalimar. He replayed it 10 times nearly and closed up real close on their faces and made the proper adjustments to it so the picture was crisp clear. Although the video was greenish because of the night, and had awful quality he was still able to see the incident with out question.

Shalimar was on the roof of the warehouse- she seemed to have just spoken into her comring, undoubtedly to Brennan- she smiles. He figured they must've shared a joke. She moves closer to the edge and peers over, she seemed to have been looking at boxes, there was a glow on her face, she went feral, but he guessed she didn't get what she wanted because she followed a short man but turned and followed the taller one, he must have been in charge- he looked the part. She got what she wanted from him, because she turned to head back, speaking into her comring once again but she tripped or something, and her foot slipped the man who was once walking away, now turned so quickly, snatching her foot, Jessie had to rewind it and watch it again, then put it in slow motion just to be sure… oh, this guy was a feral all right, that was too high a jump, and too quick a move to have been anything else. Watching on, he saw Shalimar hit the floor but recovered quickly. Words were exchanged and from the corner of the screen a man was etching forward, Shalimar was probably too wrapped up in the taller guy to notice… but he soon saw the dirty trick unfold… the in corner had distracted her long enough for the taller guy to stab a needle into her neck. Her face replayed over in his mind… shock and horror, maybe at both him and herself for being so blind to the trick. She tried to fight her way out but the sedative was too strong, and she went down fast. The tall guy took her body into his arms and fury took over Jessie when he noticed the guy kiss Shalimar's cheek before taking her around the corner with no cameras…

"Damn it!" Jessie slammed his hands on the keyboard causing a small box to come onto the screen reading: ERROR. He played the ending of the tape- the part when they turned the corner, and waited to see is the cars went passed the view of the camera- one… two… three… four… no more cars for another minute or so… five- six- and seven raced passed the view of the camera. But Jessie wasn't sure is any of those were the ones Shalimar was in. He played the tape back the first car went passed again and before it left view, Jessie paused the tape and zoomed in on the driver's face, he placed the picture of the tall guy up on the screen in a split screen action in order to ID the driver as the other guy. A red bar came up reading: NO MATCH. Jessie sighed and continued the process with the next six cars that passed, but unto no avail. They must have went the other way. He checked the next street over hoping the city might've put cameras there, even though Jessie knew the area well and knew that they wouldn't put any under an abandoned spot under a bridge. He was right however, and checked around some more but the effort was useless. They had nothing to go on, not unless one of the guys dropped something, there was hope there. Any witnesses would be good too, but as replayed the tape once more he found that none passed in view.

Jessie looked at the time- 2:32am. He would try to hold it out until 3 or so, maybe he could find something, besides Brennan still wasn't home, and the last time he checked in was around 9:30pm or so. He decided to see if Brennan was alright, it was too late to be out and it was better to get rested so they could have a fresh start in the morning. Speak for yourself, he thought…

"Hey Brennan." Jessie said into his comring.

It took a minute, but Brennan answered, his voice sounded tiered, "Jess you still ain't in bed?"

"Look, it's been a long night, let's take a brake alright? We'll start again bright and early, promise."

"Nah, Jess, I think I'm getting closer. I asked around a little, and some people have said that they had been seeing vans and a load of cars coming through lately. Maybe if I can just-"

"Brennan, it's almost 3, come on, no witness is up at 3am." Jessie reasoned.

Brennan seemed to be considering it, and Jessie decided to push his luck, "Come on back, and if you want, we'll be back at it by dawn… ok?"

"Fine…" Brennan mumbled, and turned his comring off. Jessie sat back and saved the data he had on the computer on to a disk.

"You still up?" Lexa's voice said in a yawn as she walked over to him.

"I'm bout to head up to bed." He replied.

"Ok, just wondering if Brennan's alright, I mean he never did come in did he?" She asked.

"No, but what do you care? He's stood out all niters before, you never worried then." He said getting up.

"Yes, but not under these circumstances, he should be back ready to start early, that's all I meant." She shrugged.

"Yeah, well, he's on his way now, I just spoke to him." He went around the table and headed for the stairs, "Oh, and Lexa, I don't think he's ready to hear a speech, give him a minute ok?"

"Alright, alright… I was just heading up my self anyway…" she followed behind him and both departed going their separate way to their bedrooms, "See you in the morning?" She asked.

Jessie smiled, "Yeah, bright and early, we'll get her back tomorrow."

Lexa only smiled and disappeared into her room, leaving Jessie wondering what was so bad about her to Brennan and Shalimar…

Brennan stuffed the notes he'd taken of what the witnesses said into a compartment in the Double Helix. Jessie was right, sleep first, the start again on Shalimar by dawn. The truth was he was very tired, and he even was told by a woman he was questioning just 2 hours ago that he should get some rest. He thanked her for her concern but he knew that where ever Shalimar was she wasn't getting a goodnight's rest, so why should he? But sleep won, and now he landed the Helix in the covered part of the mountain and headed to the kitchen for a bottle of water. All the lights were out meaning everyone was asleep now, he was glad, he wanted to be alone for now.

As he finished the water, he wondered what she was thinking at the moment, or if they were hurting her or not. If they were he'd make sure they pay, he'd make sure they'd never be able to raise a finger again. But there was no time for this thought, he checked the time… 3:35am… only 4 hours or so for sleep, he's take advantage of that now, and would be up by at least 6 or 7. He'd make sure Jessie and Lexa were up too, no exceptions. He downed the rest of the water at that thought and tossed the empty bottle into the garbage. Heading out of the kitchen to his room, he made a vow, to find Shalimar all cost and punish them that took her.

Kaleb paced back and forth waiting for Jonas to arrive. Jonas made it very clear that he wanted to see him after the trucks were unloaded and then reloaded with the proper equipment. He wondered deeply who the snitch could be… who could it be…?

"Kaleb! My dear good friend, how'd it go?" Jonas walked into the room bright as the sun itself, "Everything went smoothly I presume? It always does you know… it always does."

Kaleb smiled, he knew Jonas would be disappointed, "Well, we had a bit of a glitch." He said quietly but firm enough.

Jonas' smile dropped, and walked into a small room which was his office, Kaleb followed promptly right after and listened intently as he spoke, "Please, sit, and explain the glitch in which you referred to."

Kaleb cleared his throat, "Well, we were being watched. But being a feral, I detected it and handled the situation as professionally as possible under the circumstance."

"Good, so you did away with the body as previously discussed if a situation were to occur?" Jonas asked.

"Well, no." Kaleb said, and Jonas sat up quickly alarmed, but Kaleb continued his eyes apologetic as he tried to explain, "It wasn't them- our enemies, it was one of us. Us! We're supposed to try and convert the ones like us to our side, not kill them remember?"

Jonas' eyes were dark, and as he spoke Kaleb could very lightly feel the earth shake beneath, he swallowed hard, "Please go on."

Kaleb continued quickly, "Well, that's the thing. This person wasn't dressed as just a snooper, she was-"

"She?" Jonas jumped in, "It was a woman?"

"Yes," Kaleb nodded, "a woman. She's not just any girl though, other than her being a feral-"

"Feral too? You found one of your own?" Jonas asked.

"No, she's a mere feline, not my own." Kaleb said clearly, "Although Sethy-boy seems to be real shaky around her. I'm afraid to see what'll happen if they were allowed to have some alone time together…" Kaleb laughed at the thought, Jonas surprisingly joined in. "I figured she's working for someone, which clears up question whether or not there's a snitch at hand. So, she's no good dead, and she must be real important to who ever sent her- she's no rookie. So, I had to put a CODE RED on her, like I said, CODE BLACK and we would never know who she's working with, and if we could negotiate or not. Dead, they'd come for us, alive they still would come for us, and well…. Kidnapped, they would still come for us. So I played out CODE RED and now she's down in the cellar."

Jonas seemed to be thinking of the story, Kaleb knew he would end up agreeing, he was smart, but at times like these and decisions like these, Kaleb was much smarter. He was able to think of all the possibilities. Jonas finally nodded and said, "Take me to the girl, I think I need to have a word with her."

Hey all, so whatcha think? I think it's doing alright and going pretty smoothly, but that's my opinion… please I'd love to hear yours!


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer:**_ Mutant X isn't mine, it doesn't belong to me, yeah wish it did, but I guess not right? 

_**Chapter 5**_

Brennan's alarm blared loudly reading 6am and he jumped out of bed feeling as though he'd slept way too long but his body begged to differ. He decided to take a quick shower and grab a piece of fruit and head out. In all it was only a few minutes after that he rushed down stairs only to find Jessie yawning at the computer, he was in his pajamas with a fresh cup of coffee at the desk.

"How long have you been up?" He asked a bit disappointed.

"Ah," Jessie let out another yawn, "about 5 minutes ago, you?"

"15, I'm about to head out. Anything I should know?" Brennan grabbed his jacket, an apple at hand.

"No, but I think you should do some snooping around the warehouse some more, we might find something that will lead us to her." Jessie said starting up the computer.

"Did that remember?" Brennan sighed. "Nothing."

"No, inside. I'm sure we can find something in there. I can keep an eye on you too and help. There's a cam about block away that I can use to help you." He offered.

"No. That's ok, I don't need a babysitter Jess, I got this, just keep searching, maybe you'll find a lead, or a miracle one. I'll check in when I get there." He turned around and left. He didn't want to hear anything more. He went right to the BMW and hopped in, the car was easier than the Double Helix, he was sure they'd get her, today hopefully, and if not today, then they'd at least have a good lead.

He cruised right up to the warehouse, not a car stood in his way. He contacted Jessie as soon as he got there,

"Hey, Jess, I'm here- I'm going to check out the out side first, then the in, I'll check back in a little later." He cut off communication with him and began to explore the area. Nothing was left in the alley, there had been beer cans and Mc Donald's hamburger paper wrap on the ground, that was all gone now. He wondered if some hungry animal took it, convict community workers, or the men themselves… The only person who can answer that question was nowhere near. He searched through every nook and cranny of the warehouse, even the alley going into the main street, but nothing important was found. Frustration began to settle, and he zapped the lock open to the warehouse with a single bolt, too easy. He eased inside, and tried hard to listen for any unusual noises, maybe a bum or stray lingered around, but no- it was empty. There were many, many boxes and they all looked the same. He went up to the first two and opened them, papers, a lot of papers. Looking at them he could see that it was information on the warehouse when it was up and running. They were badly damaged, and useless to anyone who wanted to build the warehouse back up to it's former prospering self. He saw that the papers were just as the warehouse- abandoned, he moved on.

It took him two hours in there to finally get what he wanted. Since the warehouse was so big, it was hard to navigate and quickly find what is was he wanted. Room by room he searched and finally on the second floor, the tiniest office that nobody would think to look in- he found it. At first he wasn't sure if it was legit, the real thing but careful thinking came into play, and he knew that what he held wasn't originally from the factory, and that a little bird just didn't happen to drop it in the warehouse by accident. What he held was a single sheet of paper, that read:

_**The Time Is NOW!**_

_**Now is the time to come together and join the brotherhood!  
We have been scrutinized and looked down upon for too long! Now is the time we take back what's rightfully ours, and put them in place this time. Yes, we can and will succeed in such control. Our labor and pain has gone on for too long, you are not alone! We feel it too, now come! Come! Join us in the reign on a new era where we are not separate from every one else anymore! We've been shadowed long enough and the time has come for us to tell the government who we are and what we stand for. Come! Call the number of the person who had given you this, and be apart of what will be the most historic happening of the age. The Time Is NOW!**_

Brennan had read the flier over and over. He had to make sure, he had to be sure it wasn't just some guy wanting to start up a rebellion of Union workers for higher wages and better working conditions. But key words struck him as no strike on the Union or government. "----put them in place----", "------succeed in such control.", "-----separate from every one else-----", "-----shadowed long enough------tell the government who we are---" All that had concluded that this was a New Mutant letter- flier wanting others like him to join some sort of uprising against the normal people who created him that way… Eckhart and Adam. He stuffed the paper in his pocket and closed the drawer in which he found it in. The tiny room was a mess from wall to wall, they'd never miss it. He searched some more around the small messy quarter, and found an old inventory sheet with the winning name- Dale "Chip" Herring. Who ever that was his name was on the contact information, above it were many abbreviated words with prices next to them. He guessed that who ever "Chip" was he was on the inside, and worked for whomever took Shalimar. He stuffed that paper into his pocket too. He decided that was enough, any more information would be hand delivered by this "Chip" fellow. He got out of the warehouse fast, and locked the lock back onto the door maybe if he was good in there they wouldn't even know he took some things. The papers seemed to be abandoned anyway. The date on the inventory was a month ago, and the flier was crumbled and had stains on it. Yeah, he thought, they'll never know, things are too messy in there.

"Hey Jess." Brennan said into his comring driving 50 miles over the speed limit.

"Yeah Bren, what's up?" Jessie answered and the sound of him clicking the keys away on the computer suggested that he'd been on it all morning.

"I think I got something. I'm sending a scan on both papers over there right now." He clicked the "OK" button on the screen and the made a sound indicating the file was sent. A minute or so later Jessie confirmed it.

"Alright, Bren, I got it." He said, "You on your way back over here?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in about 10 minutes, get as much as you can on this guy, Jess."

"Got it. Oh, yeah, and Brennan, remember that mysterious caller that got us into this in the first place?"

"Yeah, how can I forget, when I see him I'm going to-"

"Hold on, hold on,- he called back and, get this he wanted to know if we got them. Lexa kept him talking long enough for us to trace him, she's on that now, good thing you left the Helix behind."

"Yeah, whatever. Is she bringing him in?" He asked thinking of all the things he'd like to do to him if he ever got his hands on him…

"Yeah, but Brennan, we need him, he might be able to tell us how to stop these guys from what ever they're going to do. Alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. Talk to you in a minute, I'm almost there."

"Sure." Jessie said.

They both said their goodbyes and disconnected. Brennan floored it and the speed increased, instead of the 10 minute deadline, he got home in 3 minutes flat and not a cop was around to take him in, law enforcement sucked sometimes, not that he was complaining. He strolled into Sanctuary, clapping his hands together rubbing them,

"So, what do we got on this guy?"

Jonas went down with Kaleb to see this girl that he so clearly imagined to be a ruthless killer. Some chic born with a bottle in one hand and a switchblade in the other. He started to get the jitters all of a sudden, not of her- God knows not of her- but of what someone might find at the warehouse. He paused just outside the cellar door, taking out his cell phone he dialed the number to one of the rebels' hide out. The person there, Joey Saunders, knew that warehouse like he knew how to shoot- perfect.

"Hey, Chris, I need a favor, what's Joey doing right now? I need him over at the warehouse, and tell 'em to bring a feral with him. I think there might be that snitch I told you about, I just want them to scope shit out- got it? Good, have him call me when it's done. Take care."

Hanging up Kaleb looked at him questioningly, but Jonas dismissed it,

"Let's go see this bitch you bought home."

The throbbing pain that was so memorable before was now not in her head, or neck from the drug or needle, no. The pain now rested and remained in her stomach, it had been a full day or so since she ate, and her stomach told her so. They had given her water a few times a day, but there was no mention of food, or even a taunt of it, no it was as if it didn't exist or she simply didn't need it. Her stomach however kept her at a constant reminder for it and it made her weak just thinking about it. Sure Shalimar knew the pains of not eating for a few days, but those days were always spent on the run, never chained up to a stoned wall. She sighed and relaxed as best she could against it's coarse rocky sheet, until she heard a noise out side, there was talking and before she could use her feral hearing to over hear any conversation, the door opened, and in walked Kaleb, with a friend.

She simply hated games, so what ever game they were fixed with taunting her with, she wasn't in the mood for. She remembered Kaleb's little speech to her when she first awoke with consciousness, other than the little threat and her being very insightful to the fact that now she was someone's "slave", he mentioned some very good points that she'd love to find out more of.

"You are not here to look cute, I'm sure who ever sent you wanted information on us, and wanted it to be done by someone good, thus, a feral. So, you will be telling me who you work for and why you went through all the hard trouble in getting caught to get it."

"This wasn't exactly the plan I had in mind…" She had said.

"Well, I didn't exactly expect to get caught with my goodies either, so I guess we both fucked up huh…? But you fucked up a little more than I did considering the fact that you're the one in chains and I'm not. I will tell you, Kitty, that my people don't like scum like you who try and destroy a good and worthy cause that my people have worked so hard to build up on. We also don't like that you're probably working for the scum bag that put you in the position that you're in right now, shit with what you are you could be working for us, even if you are a feline…" He had laughed, surprisingly, a nice laugh, not rough at all but… normal.

"What are you talkin-" Shalimar had began, but he'd cut her off.

"Look, I don't want to hear it right now. I have to be somewhere, we will finish this up later- Kitty. Sweet dreams." He blew her a kiss and left, she'd been alone ever since, the only visitor was the one to give her water, and let her use the bathroom a few times.

He now strolled in, with this other man at his side, but this time it was different, the other man seemed to be in charge, not Kaleb. She straightened up a little and lightly sniffed the air in front of her- he wasn't a feral, she was glad. Ferals always had a thing about them that made it so much harder to communicate on a human level, as Shal knew, they were very touchy. The man smiled at her,

"Well, she is very different than what I'd imagined…"

Shalimar shrugged, "Sorry to disappoint." She just couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"Feisty, I thought she might be." the man said in good humor, what did he think this was some kind of show? None the less, he said, "So, what's this girl's name?"

Kaleb smiled, "She hasn't given one to me yet, but I call her Kitty anyway. It fits her don't you think?"

The man laughed, "Yes, well, your name is Kaleb right? Fits you perfectly, now Kitty- Seth even has a name that fits him. Speaking of names, my name is Jonas, pleasure to meet you. We're going to have a wonderful time here right? I hope so, because you are going to tell us everything we want to know, is that clear?"

Shalimar smiled darkly, she wasn't going to let them get to her, if only she could keep the growling in her stomach down. She tried as hard as she could to suppress the loud growl waiting escape, "Well, I don't know you have to give me a few days to think about it."

Both laughed, like if she was a child asking an obvious question, Kaleb spoke up, "Should I discipline her? Teach respect for her elders?"

"No, never hit a lady." Jonas said, "There are other ways to teach a feral a lesson."

Kaleb winced, and she knew then that both shared the same fear- fire, of course. He only nodded, and took a step back, Jonas stepped towards her, he smelled her hair. Then thetop of the her shirt,

"Before anything, I want her clean- get her to a bathroom, the one for people like her- got it?"

Kaleb nodded, and she felt very uneasy. Did she really smell that bad? She didn't smell anything… maybe he didn't either, he was just toying with her. She really could use a shower though, somewhere to sooth her mind, and ease the ache in her stomach, and to think about the questions they were going to ask, and how to answer in a way they wouldn't push and go further, in a way they wouldn't use fire against her. But in the end she figured they're going to do what ever they want in the end anyway, she just had to stick it through.

After they left, two men came in the room, leaving her to wonder if she was the only damn female in the whole place, with chains and electric sticks ready to take her off to her promised shower, she followed with out incident the whole time, her mind was forming a plan…

Ok, so- how was this chapter, I honestly thought it would never end, this one was a bit tricky to write however, I'm so glad all of you who reviewed like it so much, thank you. The ending is already forming in my head, but don't worry- I got a ways to go before that happens. So, again if you want to comment, criticize, or suggest, please let me know, I'll take any of your ideas, or appraises. Thank You.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer**_: Mutant X is not mine it doesn't belong to me, really wish it did though, that'll be cool. 

_**Chapter 6**_

Lexa flew the Helix on auto-pilot and sat with the guy named, Spencer Peterson, the mystery guy who first got them into the mess they were currently in. She put the cloak on the side of his head pressing the button shielding his eyes, to ensure the hidden safety of Sanctuary. She secretly conferred with the Dominion to confirm whether or not they set him up to do this. The results were unexpected- they didn't know anything about the guy, nor do they have a record on him- he was a nobody, basically.

"Are you going to tell me anything while we're on this less than exciting trip to Sanctuary?" Lexa was tired- tired of boredom…

"No, I have to speak to all of you in person, there are four right? Molecular… Elemental… Psion-" He was cut off immediately.

"There is no psionic anymore." Lexa quickly said in a bit of a harsh tone. "There's the Feral, and me, another Molecular- how do you know about us?"

Spencer diverted the question, "Two moleculars, wow, interesting. I didn't know, you must be the new one then right?"

"What are you a psionic or something?" She was getting a bit annoyed by him, all these questions he had, yet they were the one needing the answers.

"No, I'm special."

"I could have told you that," She muttered, although he didn't seem to have heard it.

"I'm Elemental and Molecular, not ½ and ½ no just part of each…" he seemed to almost look right at her, "the people they want have to be special if not then you go into the normal houses with the normal mutants. Yeah, I was special, hell- I am special." He smiled.

Lexa sat back a little, he was starting to freak her out. She inhaled and started again to try and get through to him,

"Will you at least tell me anything that involved my friend getting kidnapped by those people? There has to be something to can let out on this-"

"Your friend was kidnapped? By Kaleb?" He suddenly got wide eyed, and seemed to stare right through the cloak into her soul it seemed. A chill ran down her spine,

"Y-yeah…."

The Helix was already at Sanctuary now, and as badly as she wanted to jump off she sat there, frozen, as if she zoned out, or fallen under a trance or spell. She forced herself to speak,

"W-why…? Why do you say that?"

"Are we here already? Shouldn't we be getting out?" He tried to take off the cloak but failed. "A little help, please?"

She awoke from her state of confusion, and released the cloak from his temple, together they got out of the helix and she lead him to the lab inside Sanctuary, dragging him along. She didn't think they had time to marvel the floors or pretty little waterfalls, they had work to be done, and they marched right into the lab doors where Jesse sat and Brennan stood, arms crossed attitude visible- the all American bad-ass.

"This is Spencer Peterson, he's 32 and with a special privately organized group which he will now tell us all about since we are all so visibly here." She said quickly, she nearly pushed him right in the middle of the floor. He stood there a minute just looking at her, a bit stunned, but he recovered after a minute, and began to speak.

"Hi, I'm Spencer, I was the one that called you in the first place, about Kaleb, and the others…"

"We know that you're the one who called." Brennan said impatiently, "Tell us about this Kaleb guy."

"O-ok… well, he's the right hand man. He's the best. There was a guy an Elemental, he believed that being a mutant was hard enough growing up, that it was unfair how the government kept them a secret, tried to cover them- well, actually, I should say us right? Us? Well anyway, he started up this group- The Elite- which means exactly that- the elite. The best, the most talented, gifted, whatever you want to call it. The Elite is the main group, then there are the secondary groups, The Chosen, The Select, and The Few. They're weird names, but the mutants that are chosen to be the group are there for a reason. The Few are obviously the lesser necessary mutants, their like replacements, if one of the other groups can't participate in the days events. They want to be apart of things, they just aren't up to the standards of qualification needed is all.

"Then you have The Select, they are strong mutants that are common and can work together. They usually come up with the best plans and best ways to go about doing things. The Chosen is like The Elite's best friend- closest brother, they are second to almost equal best. They have some rare mutants, and some strong. They are always first choice back up for The Elite. All the mutants that want to be there when the overtaking takes place wants to be an Elite… hell even I did."

"Wait what?" Jesse said.

Lexa was starting to get a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she was starting to feel like they were way over their heads with this one. Something he wasn't saying was starting to surface itself in to her brain, and it was starting to cause her a mounted migraine.

"Look, I heard that you guys are the best, hell, you brought down Genomex for Christ's sakes! I really want to stop these guys, I don't think they are going to fulfill their promises, I mean, I know Kaleb lies at times, and that it's for our own good, but lying about what we're doing there and why is just too much! We are supposed to make things better between human and mutant, not start an up rise!"

"Uh, Brennan…" Jesse said, concern and almost a hint of fear crossed his face, "Does this sound familiar to you?"

"A little too well." Brennan said, "You know Spencer, you're leaving a lot of holes in your story. Now stop fooling around and get to the part when you tell us what happened to our friend."

"Well, the case with your friend- mind telling me the category she falls under…? Molecular…. Elemental….?" He smiled.

"Feral," Brennan gritted, "What does that have to do-"

"Feral?" Again he gave a look that chilled Lexa cold. She was not one to be intimidated by such looks but for some reason she couldn't shake the fact that they were treading in dangerous water, and should just grab Shal a forget about this Kaleb guy and The Elites.

"What?" Brennan asked nervously, but still tried to acquire normal composure.

"I thought one of you were feral… how could I have mistaken that? I could have swore-"

"Get to the point!" Jesse said agitated. He seemed desperate for an answer now, sweat beading up on his forehead.

"Kaleb is a Feral… canine, feral. Not only is he a very strong and powerful mutant but his canine DNA is heightened. He is extremely dangerous when threatened, and for him to have caught a feline feral in his grasp, well, I also realize now that your missing a female, which means that it must be the blonde to be the feral."

"Wait, how the hell do you know all of this about us?" Brennan asked anger flaring openly."

"Look, she's ok. He didn't take her just to kill her. He wants her on a more personal level, along with the professional examination too.

"What do you mean 'personal'!" Brennan snapped.

I simply mean that he wants to know her… with ferals it's always a battle between their human side and their animal instincts. With him, he plays both, I'm sure he's very curious about her."

Brennan was sending the man daggers from where he sat, but Jesse had more imperative questions on his mind,

"This man, that started up the group- The Elite… what was his name?

Spencer thought a moment, "I think it was Jonas, I can be sure almost. Jonas Detura, was his name, I met him once."

"Ok," Jesse continued, " Now, what exactly is the point of this group? Why did you call us and get us involved?"

"You're the only ones that can help if you can't then no one can. Jonas started it up to take over, to rule. Many mutants are tired of hiding, they want to come out and not be afraid of their powers any longer. Jonas promised as soon as they were strong in numbers they would march to the government and show them exactly what they funded their projects to do. They want to come out of theses hiding places, be free at last! But I started noticing shipments of weapons, and protection coming through, that signaled a war, a war the public would not be aware of. Too much blood would be spilled, and the deaths of millions of innocents will rise. No one will be able to stop it once it started, and there's a 9 out of 10 chance mutants will win. Jonas will rule and regular humans will be as low class as the poor are today. He will make them suffer as he felt, I'd choose death."

No one said a word… all sat absorbing the information given to them. Lexa was wrong, it wasn't dangerous water they treaded in, it was burning, boiling water that at first touch left an everlasting impression. She now demanded that they get Shalimar out an not have anything to do with them at all.

"Wow, this is deeper than I thought…" Jesse said bowing his head.

"We have to get Shal out of there…" Brennan said.

"I say we get Shal and get the hell out of this mess." Lexa said, "The Dominion doesn't even know about this."

"That's a surprise," Brennan scoffed.

"No!" Spencer said, "I need you to help me stop this. Don't you understand? He doesn't care! People are blindly supporting him, he only wants power. Your friend, she's caught up in it now too. Kaleb will be after her if you take her from him. Whether it's to kill her later or keep her, you have to stop him or he'll keep coming after her. That means he'll be after all of you too!"

"Oh no, she's coming home," Brennan said surely. "As soon as you give us an address."

"Well, I don't really have one. One of the disadvantages of being in, The Few we always worked at the house- our house, House of The Few, they called it. They came to us, that's it worked. I actually have to head back there soon, they already suspect a snitch, and have a psionic working on it."

"Wait," Lexa said, "I thought you were special? Don't you belong in one of the other houses?"

"I am, who else do you know with two mutations in their DNA giving them elemental and molecular abilities?" He said simply, "I'm just not very strong, which places me with one powered, low leveled mutants. There are only a few that have more than one ability, and are considered mildly harmful. We cause "minimal" damage, as Kaleb puts it. If your friend is strong, as strong as Kaleb, then she has a chance to be in The Elite."

"She's not going to be in anything," Brennan growled, "She's already in Mutant X, and that's where she'll stay. Here's where we'll all stay."

"Alright, then you need to take them out. Now, while you still have a chance." Spencer darkly replied.

They all looked at one another, and Lexa turned to Spencer,

"Can you give us minute? We need to discuss this."

"We don't have that." Spencer said. "I need to get back, if they suspect me, I'll suffer a fatal consequence, a painful fatal consequence."

"Look," Brennan stepped in, "all we want is our friend."

"Yes, but you'll succeed in allowing a war on human and mutant kind alike that will end in the demise of humans and start with the rise of an evil, power hungry leader."

"Ok, but there's the inventory sheet Jess, and the flier." Brennan reminded.

"I know, I haven't had the chance of running the inventory through yet, but that flier wasn't written by no under paid warehouse worker, it's definitely from a mutant."

Lexa sighed she knew as soon as she looked over at Jesse and Brennan's face that they were not in favor of her suggestion. She stood up,

"Then let's go, you need to get back, will they notice a new face in the crowd?"

Joey checked back an hour later, after following Jonas' orders to check out the warehouse. He bought with him a canine feral, the only other one with strong wolf like senses, other than Kaleb. As him and Roth scoped out the main little room in which they kept all their important files he noticed the old inventory sheet he'd thrown on the floor was gone. No one was in the room for months, and now someone had discovered it.

"It smells like a man was here," Roth said, "His scent is strong here." He stood next to the desk opening and closing draws, "Was there anything in these draws? They look pretty much abandoned to me anyway."

Joey walked up to the desk examining each draw, "Nah, I think there was just an old flier- an original copy of the sheet telling mutants to join our "worthy" cause. It's in the top drawer I think. I made it up moths ago."

"Sorry, Joe, they're all empty." Roth shrugged.

"What! No!" Joey threw open the draws only to find a roach in one, and a dead mouse in the other. "Damn it! They know, they have to know. It was worded pretty good, but any mutant would know the true meaning of the flier, it would be almost obvious to them. Shit! Come on, we have to checkout the inventory sheet I put on the floor, there should still be a copy on file. I knew that if one day someone found out about this and if they happened to have went into this room they'd end up taking that paper with them. I put Chip's name on it- he had to go someday, and we always have his brother to help if anything was to go wrong."

"Yeah, he's fickle anyway," Roth agreed.

Joey phoned Jonas and told of their discovery and of the inventory with Chip's name on it. Jonas said he'd get someone from the House of The Few to check out the inventory sheet of a month ago to see if there was any more serious information on it to their disadvantage. He complemented them for their findings and told them to return to their houses. Joey thanked him and quickly complied as him and Roth left the warehouse went to their houses, Joey wanted nothing but the faces of the people to witness one of the most greatest happenings of their time, when 'normal' citizens stepped down and mutants took over… He knew that his chance would come one day to see their faces when he showed them his power.

Kaleb watched Jonas smile as he hung up the phone,

"Chip's out. They found a paper with his name on it, time to get The Few active, I'll go find someone to look for his brother, Victor. I want you to interrogate the bitch, then she's yours. Kill her, fuck her, get rid of her, or get a psionic to brain wash her into joining. She only has one mutation the psionic can tell you if she's powerful enough to be an Elite like us. Just do something with her, I don't want her down there for much longer. Ok?"

"Yeah," Kaleb smiled.

"Oh, and stop torturing her, give her some food and let her be alone to eat it- you know she'll never eat it in front of you- you ferals have too much pride." Jonas added.

"Got it." he smiled.

Jonas left and Kaleb went down to the kitchen and retrieved some food, not too much though. He wanted to keep her in line, she was tough, too tough. He bought a load of it down to the chamber where she now sat in a two piece white garment. It was tight, with a bit of cleavage, it tied around her stomach in a know in the back. The pants were a bit loose around her waist indicating the lack of food she had. Her hair was a bit wet, but curled none the less down her back. In any other circumstance, she'd look like a beautiful angel, deadly, but beautiful. She sat on the small cot placed in her cell for her, now shackle free, and growled low and threatening when he entered.

"Hey, Kitty. Are you hungry? I know you are…" He teased.

"Go to hell." She said and her eyes flashed brightly.

"Aww, only if you join me." He retorted.

Her eyes dipped from his momentarily from his to the food, and he knew she smelled everything he had. Every morsel's scent now lingered under her nose and in to her brain. He sat down on the ground a considerable length from her,

"We are going to play a little game, now." He smiled. "I ask a question, you answer and get food. That's how we play. If you play nicely, maybe you can ask a few questions, how's that sound?"

"Fuck you." She snarled, she really did hate him, but was it because of the animal in her, or more…?

"Good, now, Kitty- what's you're name?"

"Go away." She turned her face, he heard her stomach growl loudly and she winced knowing he heard it.

"Sit on the floor with me, and tell me your name- then you can have this…" he pulled out a small cookie, "Theirs more."

She seemed to be thinking about it then said in a low voice, "S-Shalimar."

"Last name too." He said quickly.

"No, you didn't say that. Shalimar, that's all you need to know." She said sternly.

He smiled and held out his hand with the cookie in it- he didn't want it to seem like he was tossing her a bone, he also wanted to touch her, if only for a second.

She hesitated, then snatched it and nearly swallowed it whole.

Pleased he continued, "Who sent you to spy on us?"

She seemed to think for a minute, then said, "Someone called saying there was something going down at a warehouse, I'm the best to check that sort of thing out, so I went."

"That wasn't the answer he was looking for, and she seemed to know that, he had to phrase his questions better next time, he handed her a small piece of bread roll. It was gone after two minutes, she struggled to swallow it down her dry throat.

"Thirsty? Good, let's try that question again, Who do you work for?"

She looked down, then smiled, "Adam Kane."

A name, that was surprising. He hadn't expected that, he pulled out ½ of a sandwich and a bottle of organic orange juice. A name…

"Good, good. Now, how many people are looking into your disappearance, and are they mutants like us?" He asked.

"They're mutants, and their enough to kick your ass." She said finishing the sandwich and the orange juice.

"You didn't answer my question," he scowled.

"I answered part of it," She countered.

Anger rippled through him and he grabbed her throat and squeezed it. Her breath wheezed and her eyes fluttered a few times from surprise, but none the less she was still conscience.

"Don't fuck with me, your life is in my hands, you need food, and you need me to give it to you because no one else will. You will sooner or later learn to accept this and me. I'll be back for you-" he let go of her neck and she sucked in a load of oxygen, "so don't get any ideas."

Little did he know, her ideas had already formed, and were to be played out soon as soon as she fixed some existent kinks in the scheme.

_Wow this took a few days. So how's the story coming along? I have a surprise ending I've been thinking about, and I'm definitely going to put it in. I hope my constant readers continue, and I hope I don't disappoint. I'm taking suggestions into consideration and love to hear your comments and criticism. I want to build and create the story to your liking. Thank you to those of you that responded to me, keep it up, your voices are not going unheard!_


	7. Chapter 7

**_Disclaimer:_** Mutant X is not mine it doesn't belong to me, sorry, but that's just how things are. 

**_Chapter 7_**

Jonas rushed to the house of The Few with his psionic partner, Yen. Yen was of The Elite team and one of the best psionics he'd ever met. He'd been tiered all week probing in others' minds trying to find the spy that sold them out to whatever league that girl was from- Kitty, Kaleb called her… He also wouldn't have let any one from any group kidnap and contain another mutant, especially an enemy mutant, the person would be charged with breaking the law of The Elite, number 4 and therefore pay for the crime in any way he thought necessary. But Kaleb was lucky, he was lucky because he was so good at what he did, and he was his good friend, the only good friend Jonas can actually say he had. Kaleb wanted a toy to play with after all his work was done, and now he had the toy he so desperately sought. Jonas couldn't take that away from him, besides, the kidnap was a good idea, now he could plan to lure the rest of the squad she belonged to and force them to join, or kill them, because in the end he wanted to rule, and no one in doubt would escape his wrath. As for the spy, or the traitor, (he was thinking now that everyone he dealt with in The Few was against him and working for some rebel group or the government) he would receive a punishment worse than death, he'll throw him to the psionics in The Few, with the promise that who ever gets him insane first gets to move up the ladder, they'd kill to be in The Select because The Chosen was after that, and that was second best to The Elite. People killed for that position and he'd use that against them.

He finally arrived to the house of The Few with Yen sticking by his side and walked in confidently striding a dominant expression written across his face. People in the room immediately stopped talking and as he looked at them they meekly cast down their eyes.

"Hello fellow followers! Good morning!"

"Good morning!" They sounded much enthused but their faces read something else… he couldn't tell.

"We are now having a meeting, please, where's Ethan? Ethan?"

"Here sir!" Ethan called, head of house of The Few, he was the strongest.

"Collect the others, a meetings underway." He boomed with authority.

"Aye, sir" Ethan was off to collect the rest.

He leaned into Yen who looked positively threatening at the moment; he was Asian, but big in height and built,

"We are going to do scans, I want that rat- got it?"

"Yep."

"You make sure you get them." He continued.

"Yep." He repeated.

"Good, I want this son of a bitch, he will pay." He fumed quietly.

"Ethan returned no less than 5 minutes later with a troop of maybe 50 mutants trailing behind him. They all took different spots on the floor and chairs making their selves comfortable as he began to speak,

"Well, all, it's been a while since we've met, a long over due meeting… now as you all know I'm very upset with this group. A traitor to our cause is very disturbing, what we are trying to do is help the new mutants of this world not hurt the humans that gave us this very unique gift that separates us from them. Now when they find out if they use force against us and discrimination then we send our psioncs on them to show them the error of their ways am I right?"

There was diminutive mumble of agreement.

"Now, I would like the mutant to just come forward and tell me it was them, that they made a mistake and am sorry for the wrongful deed they've done. Now if no one comes forward then I'm going have to use Yen here, my best psionic from The Elite, to sort out who it is…"

Everyone looked around and mumbled to one another, but no one stepped forward.

"Ok," he shrugged, "I wish there were another way to do this, but you all leave me no choice, the culprit will be found and charged by the psionics. Please Yen, go about them and sort them out."

Yen nodded and stepped towards the first one who went up to him head up with fear in his eyes.

Jonas went up to Ethan, "You'll be checked too you know."

"I know," He said confidently, "But I am not the culprit I love my job here, and feel that it will benefit us in the future."

"I'm glad you feel that way, that's my purpose, I want to keep it a safe world for us, a world where we can use our powers in public without being criticized and called names, I want it to be normal for us to that."

"That why I stick by your side sir, I want all those things too, and I believe in numbers in due time we will achieve that with you our leader." Ethan beamed. He didn't look at Jonas as he spoke, that's how he knew that he wasn't trying to impress him or BS him in any way. Jonas smiled pleased, even as Ethan left to get screened and came back saying Yen said he was as loyal as Kaleb he was glad Ethan was the strongest out of The Few.

He walked around as the line went into the next room and searched the faces of the mutants as they waited to be screened. They looked confident, some looked scared some looked like it was another run at the mill, and he was surprised at how fascinated he was now about these people. Just the other day he couldn't have gave two shits about them, the weaker ones- the wanna-bees- he wouldn't have cared if one of them fell off of a bridge and died. They were useless to fight; he confided in Kaleb once that they were expendable; they were what he needed if he needed a sacrifice. Now he looked upon their faces as if they actually mattered, as if they actually were capable of doing something other than dieing for his cause, for "their" cause.

He pulled out his cell phone and looked at it as he commanded it to locate and call Seth, he wanted him and Kaleb to go again to the warehouse- possibly bringing the girl as bait. He already decided to use Craig, a water mutant, to find Victor, he just got finished being scanned, and seemed eager to move his position up the chain of power, Craig would do it, definitely.

"Seth, boy, how are you?" He greeted.

"G-good sir, am I in trouble? I didn't do anything, I was extra careful to follow the rules with the inventory this time; I even put my foot down with Chip. I told him- if you get the shipment-"

But Jonas cut him off, "No, no, Seth it's alright, I need you to send another inventory sheet to Victor Herring- I'll send the address and phone number on him in a sec, I have to find him first which shouldn't be that hard. We told him not to disappear just in case we needed him, he agreed to leave a trail, so let's see, huh?"

"Y-yea," Seth agreed, "I'll cancel the message, I still know how to hack into his account, I didn't forget. Ok?"

"Good boy Seth, now you go run along and do what I told you. Bye." He hung up the phone before Seth could get his own farewell out.

"Craig!" Jonas called loudly, "Craig, get your ass over here!"

He ran over with a huge grin, other than being dopey and a goof ball, he had great potential for The Chosen, Jonas just wasn't ready to reveal that to him yet, there was still a chance for him to fuck up, and Jonas wanted to see if he would take the opportunity to do so.

"Hey, I need you to find Victor Herring, you got it? His name is Victor Herring brother of Chip Herring- well, Dale Herring, you understand? I need the info ASAP- alright?"

"Yeah, I got it. So where do you want me to send it? Or do you want it straight to you?" he asked, still grinning foolishly.

"I want a copy of it in my e-mail and one sent out to Seth of The Chosen, ok? He the only got-damn feral from the rodent gene pool, ok?" he said sternly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know Sethy-boy. A'ight, no prob, I'll have it out in a coupla hours." He waved his hand in front of his face gesturing that it was a piece of cake assignment.

"Good, oh and I need you to check on an inventory sheet, I think about a month ago it was sent, someone found our copy and I need to see if there was any more possible damaging information on it other than Chip's name." Jonas said and before turning away, he added, "Oh, and Craig? Quit the slang in your speech, if you start speaking more professional wise I might just give you the opportunity to become one, and get you out of this hellish group of The Few." With out another word he turned on his heel and left the house.

Kaleb sat at his computer with all the information the feline- well, "Shalimar"- had given him. He didn't trust her, but she was starving, and she knew with the wrong information she could go again starving, and that was a slow painful way to be, no matter how strong you are. She gave him a name… Adam Kane… Kane… the name was familiar but as to where he heard it from he had no idea. He brought his friend, a computer mutant named Hun, to help him research him on the computer. He found that Adam Kane used to work for a company called Genomex, and was partnered up with another named Mason Eckhart. Together they ran a load of secret scientific experiments one of them being the New Mutant experiments. Hun's eyes widened, he had no idea that this man was the causing of so much pain throughout his life, and used his mutant ability to naturally hack into a computer without touching a key to find out more about this man. Kane found that the experiments went horribly wrong, and fled the bond he had with Eckhart and Genomex to live a life of secrecy and rebellion against the very company he worked for. Eckhart seemed to keep the company up and running for many years after, collecting the new mutants and storing them in cases and weird coffin like glass, keeping them alive only to experiment on them later. Kane was gone, no record of him at all coming back out into the world or working again for another company. Hun tried harder as Kaleb pushed him to dig deeper, and there was more… Kane attended parties and dinners after his run, at first he went to them alone… no one but him, an occasional date or two… but then, names started to appear on the guest sheets, sometimes two sometimes three or four. Hun went through the computer's file of the guest books, he tried the top ten parties that all the scentist and major secret organizations attend, and found that at first there were only two or three names, then there were four names… the same constant four names kept appearing over and over.

"Ah, he left a trail." Kaleb smiled. "Please, find out more."

"I'm on it." Hun grinned, he was the best computer hacker anyone has ever seen, that's why Jonas made him an Elite, and he pulled up files on Jonas that even Jonas himself couldn't believe were still around.

Shalimar Fox that was her whole name, Kaleb smiled to himself, it was amazing at how both his and her names fit them perfectly. Jesse Kilmartin, Emma de Lauro, and Brennan Mulray were the rest of the guest that appeared on the lists. Who were these people, and what affiliation did they have with the government? With the man that created not only them but also all of the new mutants…? Why were they so loyal? He didn't understand, Kane gave them the curse they have to live with for the rest of their lives, why would they stick by him and work for him? They were traitors and they all needed to die, he concluded. They were probably doing it for the money, that's the only reason he could think of. Hun looked surprised for a moment and pulled up the next page,

"Adam Kane- dead."

A news article read those lines in little bold letters seemingly from the middle of the paper instead of a headliner which it should've and would've been have normal people knew more about him. No, the government gave him proper recognition from the middle of the paper where most would probably have skipped through. Him and the de Lauro girl were killed when a company called Naxcon went up in flames. Good, he thought,

"Any more you can find about that building?" Kaleb asked, "I want to know who these people are for Christ's sakes!"

"I can do better," Hun smiled.

He found a page set up by a mutant put into something called an underground… a hiding place for mutants from the outside world, where Eckhart couldn't get them. It was a memorial page set up for him by that person,

To Adam Kane and All of Mutant X,

Thank You so much for what you did for my family, and me we are forever in your debt. I recently heard the sad news about Adam and Emma and I'm so terribly sorry for your loss, he was our loss too. Please keep your heads up Mutant X and don't quit on the hundreds of others that need you. I put up a memorial for Adam, and hope that many will sign to show their support for you. Keep up the fabulous job we really appreciate it.

There was a load of crappy thank yous and hundreds upon hundreds of signatures. But Hun was right- Mutant X. Ha, that feline didn't think he'd get this much information. What, she thought he was stupid? He wasn't no dumb dog all right, he was the best at finding things out, even with a little help.

"Look up 'Mutant X'." He said.

In a second Hun had a load of things about them, how they battled the GSA, how they took their mutants and hid them, some of the missions they went on, and some people they had to deal with, but it was never real juicy. No high-ranking scientist were ever mentioned or anything he was sure Hun could get names, for a future assignation but he wasn't interested in that. He wanted to know who was on Mutant X now, who was the team- Adam just died, and so did a teammate almost a year ago, who was there now?

"Get me the names of the current Mutant X members." Kaleb commanded.

Hun immediately bought up names and al were the same except for now there was a new girl… Lexa Pierce. Not only did Hun get the names but he put up profiles of them, all their pictures came up and past history. As he read them he got more and more suspicious, Shalimar's said, she lived with both parents until she moved out at 18 to go to college but dropped out after a few months. She was arrested for a few misdemeanors and moved south to a small business and a low rent apartment. Brennan Mulray's said he dropped out of High School to work full time at a warehouse. He was constantly arrested for fights at the job, until fired about five years ago. Jesse's was better than the rest, his was at least decent- high class, went to college, got a diploma, good highly paid job and successfully working for a big corporation up state. Lexa Pierce, average living, recently divorced, and went to a trade school… she was okay. There was no mention of Mutant X, or working for a rebel mutant group. It wasn't legit… it couldn't be. He couldn't imagine the girl in the basement as settling down to some business and living life without any more incidents.

"It's not legit," he looked at Hun, "Get me some real backgrounds on these people!"

"I was trying but there seems to be a block on them. Or maybe they were deleted. I can't get to them!" Hun said in a rather annoyingly high voice.

"That's not good enough, your in The Elite, not The Chosen, not The Select, and not the pussy ass Few, get them profiles and get them now, or you might find yourself with Ethan."

"Y-yes, Kaleb." Hun bowed his head shamed.

Kaleb stormed out and went down stairs, he was about to get a sandwich from the kitchen when Wallie- short for Waldo, -he hated that name- came storming into the kitchen grabbing his arm and gasping for breath,

"S-s-s-she….." he gasped.

"What!" Kaleb hated when people couldn't spit out their words,

"She killed Kevin. She almost escaped! S-she almost escaped!" He repeated.

"Okay, calm down," Kaleb said as they both started running to the basement. "What the hell happened?"

"Frank hit her with a psych blast and knocked her out cold. She's chained up on the floor. She killed Kevin! She just killed him!"

Kaleb could see he was nearly hysterical, "Ok, don't worry. She probably got desperate, how close was she from escaping?"

"A-almost out the door, and that's it, she would have gotten away. She killed Kevin! Do you know how!" His eyes were wide with fear.

"Look, I'll see the bloody mess down there soon, take me to her." He said, Wallie was always a dork- how did he become an Elite?

Wallie took him straight to the chamber they put her in, a huge pad lock was on the door and he secretly smiled at how strong she was- there was 10 guards watching her door, two of them were psionics, and then the guards at the out side door, who were also psionics, very powerful psionics one was an empathic and the other was a mind reader. She was almost out the door… he felt his heart beat faster.

Her head pounded so hard a whimper escaped from her throat, it hurt so badly. She was on her side and her body was being pressed together. She tried to move despite the pressing, but to no avail, whatever it was it was hard. Finally, her eyes obeyed her, and she was able to open them a bit. It was only a squint at first, but gradually they opened all the way and the first thing she saw from a sideways point of view was Kaleb squatting next to her. She wished she hadn't opened them. She now saw the straight jacket and cartoonishly big chains tied around her small body, if it wasn't for the pain in her head she would have gave a small smile.

"Well, Kitty, you did quite a job. Killed one of my good friends, insult me by trying to escape from this beautiful home, what- do you have a death wish or something? If you do, I'd be happy to grant it." Kaleb moved closer now sitting next to her, he moved a hair from her eyes, and she jerked away from him, growled and flashed her eyes. "Your going to like me sooner or later, kitten."

"Go to hell." She spat, her neck felt cramped from holding it up and she rested her head on the floor to sooth it.

Her plan was so simple, so easy- she almost escaped, that psionic came out of nowhere.

"So, how should I repay you for the damage you've done? You slit his throat, you cut it through the vein, and he bled to death. Did you know that?" Kaleb explained.

She hadn't but said coolly, "Next time tell your friends to keep their hands off, they know now however, don't they?"

"I guess so." He mused.

He had been drunk, she smelled the toxic from his breath, and the other guard let him in maybe knowing his intentions. He had drunkenly tried to kiss her, and she- being chained at the time- kneed him in between. He recovered and was very angry, she had seen the glint of a blade he had strapped to his waist, and broke the chains that bound her; she removed the blade in one quick swift movement and slashed his neck. Before the blood could splat all over she leaped to the door and took out the first five guards that occupied it. Remembering the door to the exit, while once going to the bathroom, she went to it- another five came charging forward. They went down, and so did the other two guards, but a pink energy ball hit her hard just before she leaped outside, and she thought they killed her. Everything went black after that, she failed- she still didn't know where that psionic came from, she didn't even sense him! She was so disappointed with herself; she wanted to cry all of a sudden. Where was the team? Where was Brennan coming to get her? She knew they would come, but what if they couldn't find her- she didn't leave a trace… She felt the tears well- up in her eyes, but she pushed them back, she wouldn't dare let them fall, not in front of Kaleb, no. She missed Brennan so much, she had to be patient, he would come for her, and she trusted him that mattered a lot. She sighed however.

"You know, I think that you think that I'm stupid… is that right?" Kaleb asked a twinkle alight in his eye.

"Well, you know- with your type, you can never tell." She smartly replied.

"Yes, that's true. But then again, remember that it was my type that found out that you're apart of a rebellion group called Mutant X, right?" His grin was wide, evil looking.

Her heart thumped, she thought by giving Adam's name he would go looking up Adam, and found that he died. They were very low profiled on the web- how could he have found them? It was impossible; she tried to before the regular way like everyone else would've. Not unless he had a very powerful computer mutant to do it for him. They were so rare though, she never met one before, not even through Adam… great, and she gave him what he needed.

"I see it had such a good effect on you, I was hoping it would. Adam is very prestigious in his work, but what I don't understand is if he was the one that created us- which is very disturbing considering that him and this Eckhart guy started to collect us- why did you work for him? Huh? He gave us this curse, because that's what it is you know… a curse."

"He's a good man," She defended, "He could've helped you."

"No, he cursed us!" he yelled, his eyes flashed brown, "We're going to die from this inside of us. You know it, and if you don't you're a fool. This isn't good for us; we weren't supposed to be this way. Fucking with us isn't a 'good' thing, damn" he said in a low voice, and grabbed her face with one hand, "please don't tell me that all blonds are dumb now, I was just beginning to have faith in you."

She tried to pull her face away but he squeezed painfully harder.

"You go around hiding us in your caves and holes in the ground, and they thank you! Ha! Yeah well, a lot of them have left those holes huh? Yea, they came to us. Their tired of hiding, and pretty soon we're going to show the government who we really are, and then we're going to rule the offices, they'll know how it feels then to be scared of us."

He bent down to her face, real close, she held her breath- " you'll be there too, apart of The elite, standing there by my side. You'll like that right?"

"I'll never join your sick little group," she said as best she could while he held her firmly, "you and your group won't be lasting much longer, once…." She swallowed, it was hard to speak as he squeezed.

"What? What were you going to say? Oh, that's right- it doesn't matter anyway, you will join, you don't have a choice in the matter." He bent down and kissed her hard.

She stiffened a moment surprised a canine was even attracted to a feline feral. She had closed her eyes and snapped out of the shock, she squirmed as best she could, but he deepened the kiss- she tried to think, then finally bit him hard, hard enough to make him bleed, she tasted the coppery taste… she spit it out coughing.

"Ugh." He toughed his lip, saw the blood, smiled, "You are a piece of work, Kitty. Don't worry, you have a good sleep- I'll be back for you in the morning."

He left making her wonder if there was anything she could do to him to make him mad, or even angry at her. Everything that she did amused him- she couldn't get to him, she even killed his friend and he seemed pleased. Where was Brennan? She wanted him so badly to bust through the door at the moment a rescue her, but he didn't come, and she spent another night in the dark basement unsure of the future events to happen in the morning. The tears finally spilled over her cheeks, and continued until the blissful sleep claimed her and took her away into a temporary peaceful world of rest.

_Hey all, I'm very sorry for such the long update. I had such a long couple of weeks, and with the holidays making it worse for me to finish this chapter, I did my best. I hope you all like it. I think it's getting pretty interesting, but I want to know what the rest of you think out there too. I'll take suggestions, criticism, or of course comments. Please all feel free to comment; all is welcome to their opinion here. Thank You._


	8. Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer:**_ Mutant X ain't mine, no it doesn't belong to me… 

**_Chapter 8_**

Lexa stood there in the line as this huge Asian looking psionic scanned the people in front of her. He must have been really powerful because the people that walked away complained of a slight headache. She never thought that it was possible to be a weak mutant; she always thought that there were the normal ones and the powerful ones… never weaker ones- she was definitely not weak. Her heart started to pound in her chest at the anticipation of being caught, she couldn't let people get in front, then there would be questioning in her loyalty- even though there really wasn't any to start with, Spencer however, he was a mess. Sweat poured from his temples, and he squeaked every time a person bumped into him. He was slowly getting noticed, and he kept leaning in to her ear whispering,

"Do you know what they do to traitors?"

It wasn't a statement… it was an honest question that he feared. Was it possible that just before he was the very man that made her blood turn to ice? That at his very cryptic tale of this insane little group, she feared of hearing? Now he was annoying her, she wanted to smack him, they wouldn't kill him instantly, they would torture him with questions, and by then the team would rescue him, simple.

But deep inside it didn't really seem that simple. No, deep inside she sensed danger in the group, her normal high confidence and determination in the mission wasn't so this time. Her gut was telling her that something was wrong, but all that Brennan thought was that Shal was in trouble and she needed their help. That was true, but how did this all get started? Some man seeks power in politics and he convinces a few mutants to join? Then gets hundreds, and hundreds more? There were a lot of mutants there, when her and Spencer was hiding out, she saw the mutants lounging around, some worked on some paper work and others practiced with one another, using their powers to get stronger, to be advanced to the next house. They were serious. They really were leaving Adam's safe houses to join some psycho maniac wanting power, believing the bullshit tale of mutant equality, and opportunity to come out with out ridicule. They were naive.

She figured that there weren't many weak mutants out there, but there were a lot of normal and high powered ones, so she figured that their were maybe up to a thousand mutants with this guy. He seemed normal enough however, and he spoke with authority and assertiveness. People bent to him like rubber, and looked up to him even from this house, she wanted another point of view, the weaker always looked up to the stronger- she wanted to see the elite, the big timers, and this Asian dude was defiantly strong, one mutant just passed out because he fought against something that Yen wanted to see probably,

"You have doubts in us? How dare you." Yen spoke so calmly and common that if she weren't paying attention, Lexa would've thought he were having a normal conversation, with that dreadful look upon his face, so calm and collective… deadly almost. He continued,

"Who are you to question our great leader? Do you know what he gave you? Hope. He's given all of us here hope. Hope that one day we will live among others in peace, and they will accept us. The day we march on government soil will be the day every mutant who denied us, and went against us- betrayed us- would regret. That will be the day we will be liberated we will be free. Jonas will take position on their team and discuss deals to allow us to voice our opinions out loud to the rest of the world. He will allow us to be interviewed and reported by the news. We will be famous, and you won't be there because of silly doubt and uncertainty. Since when have we ever been certain? Since when have we ever been able to trust? You should be ashamed, I would never want to show my face again to Jonas if I were you. You're a disgrace, my suggestion is only one thing…" The psionic looked at the whimpering man who bawled and curled in a fetal position on the floor. The man's eyes went wide, and he nodded seemingly understanding what he meant. (Lexa learned later that he hung himself from a nearby bridge…. A note from his pocket read:

'I'm a disgrace.")

Lexa's heart beat a few paces quicker, and Spencer was already drenched in sweat, he was shaking from head to toe. Lexa stepped up more confident than she felt- she wasn't sure what she was in for but she was sure that if she walked away alive- she'll soon meet Shalimar.

"Well, I don't need my powers to see through you," He said and a dark smile spread across his strong features. He wasn't the typical looking Asian, she thought, and hoped he didn't know she thought that.

He took out his phone,

"Tell Jonas we found the rat- and it isn't no feral neither." His forehead collected a mass of energy, a huge glowing white ball right in the middle of his head. Her eyes got wide, but she refused to move, she stood in place. He threw the mass at her and fright made her eyes close, she gasped.

Spencer fell in a heap behind her, and she opened her eyes at the sudden noise- the energy ball hit him, not her. It wasn't an accident. Confusion must have covered her face because the guy smiled,

"He looked more guilty than a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar," He laugh, an odd sound. "Do I need to scan you? Maybe I should anyway…"

She couldn't let him do that, "Well, I don't see how that's necessary, there was only one traitor of The Few, I don't really need a headache, and in addition to that, I was thinking of practicing after this, the headache won't do much good while I'm on the mat, right?"

He laughed, again such an odd sound, "No one likes to get scanned, I'm the best, I'm the Human Lie Detector, no one escapes me… but I guess I can let one get away." He winked at her. Turing to the rest of the line he said, "You're all off the hook this time, now get back to your previous activities."

He turned around to leave out when Lexa made a last minute decision,

"Hey, uh… my name's Lexa by the way." She stood in a shy manner hoping that he'd take the bait.

"Yen, I'm from The Elite." He grinned. This was a complete 180 from his mood with Jonas, she observed.

"You know," she walked u to him slowly, "I'd love to see The Elite's house, and get to know the best there is along the way too, if that's alright." She smiled, praying he was the type for sweet talk- he was a bit confusing with his different moods, she even felt like she liked him- he was a psionic, he could find out if she were lying, she didn't want to look lie Spencer currently did.

He smiled, "I guess that's ok, just don't show your powers, then they'd really know your weren't an Elite. Ok?"

"Got it." She flashed a smile for benefit, and he grinned back.

They left out as five men jumped out two small cars and rushed inside to get Spencer's unconscious body on the floor- he'll be ok for a while.

Brennan hated waiting. Lexa's brilliant idea better work, he thought. Not only was she in a dangerous situation by her self, but she also had no back up in case something went wrong. Brennan wanted Shalimar back badly, but he didn't want to get Lexa hurt in the process, she didn't even want to do this mission anymore, finding out how deep they were getting themselves into she wanted out of the cause, and now he did too, and that's why he wanted to get Shal then end this whole mess.

"Jess, have you heard from her yet?"

"Brennan, you've been asking me that for the past hour and the answer still remains- no." Jesse, although sounding irritated at him also sounded a bit depressed.

"Well, she can be in trouble right? Come on we got her location, let's go look for her." Brennan tried to sound reasonable when in reality he wanted to get to the house to do a search for Shal; she was the only one on his mind at the moment.

"Brennan, as much as I want o jump at that, I'm sorry, but I can't. She told us to stay here in case she needs us, she said not to go, and we have to trust her whether you want to or not." Jesse got up from the kitchen table where he had been eating a quick snack, and went back into the lab to his computer.

Brennan sighed and sat down in the empty kitchen alone, it was only a couple of days, but it seemed like a lifetime. Why? Maybe this assignment gave everyone the jitters, no one felt right about this except Shalimar at first, but then again, she blindly jumped into it and ended up suffering the consequences. He wondered all of a sudden what she was thinking, or feeling. What had they done to her to make her stay so long? Were there really that many mutants as Spencer said there was? He was full of questions yet not nearly close to answering them. He felt frustration settle, and anger came along with it, he shouldn't be sitting here doing nothing. Lexa was out, Jesse was at the computer doing his job, he will do his too- go back out, and try to find something starting with the warehouse. It was stupid, but he'll go one more time, there had to be something there. Just one more time, and then he'll go back. He grabbed his jacket from behind the chair, and took the car again; Lexa had the Double Helix so he was perfectly happy taking the car. He would leave his ring on just in case Jesse needed him for something, he was sure Lexa would check in soon, it was all a matter of time now.

Kaleb got the message from Seth saying how they were needed back down at the warehouse again- a special assignment was ordered and the only two Jonas completely trusted were assigned to do it. That mutant Craig got the info on Chip's brother, Victor, and Chip was now floating somewhere in the Amazon, Victor thinking he went on a top-secret assignment over seas. Victor was very easy to find and quickly quit his old job to do Jonas' bidding, he was waiting for his bro to screw things up so he could get in on the action that going on, now he had his chance to prove himself.

Kaleb didn't know Victor as well as he knew Chip, but if the two were anything alike, he wished they got someone else then. But Jonas had faith. Jonas trusted Victor completely unlike his feelings for Chip when he first came on… maybe it was because Victor was a few years older than Chip, and he worked with smuggling and what not before.

Kaleb now knew however where Shalimar stood, she belonged with them… The Elite. He brought Jonas down with him to look at Shalimar's performance while being attacked. Although she took out the ten guards single handedly, he wanted to see her perform in person. They released her from the straightjacket and large chains, and threw her into a room with a two-way mirror. She used her feral senses, and flashed her eyes, looking straight at them through the mirror- Kaleb winked at her, and she turn disgusted at him. They threw a water mutant in there with her, and she easily knocked him unconscious. She then realized what they were doing, and refused to fight, letting the opponent kick her ass right there, but he never continued the beating, he stopped after she fell and looked into the two way screen and shrugged.

"I got it," Jonas said and sent in Malorick- yes, his name was Malorick- and he was the strongest fire mutant ever known in the history of Kaleb knowing him. Shalimar got up and wiped the blood from her lip. She looked at the two and her expression never changed from its relaxing state, as if all they were doing to her was poking around. She cockily stood there with her chin held high and her hands at her side. Malorick walked up to her and stood face to face with her- she however only came up to his chest, and looked up at him coolly with challenge in her eyes.

"You need to play the game Kitty Cat, or you just might get hurt…" He said in a heavy voice. He stepped back, and quickly threw a fireball so fast Kaleb missed it.

Shalimar didn't however and back flipped to safety by the wall, fear radiant in her eyes now. Her breathing became heavy and Kaleb noticed so did his. He controlled himself and looked shocked at Jonas,

"That was quick! I didn't even see that! Damn felines." Jonas only smiled.

Two more mutants came in which left her with three to fight, and one to dodge. She fought only to keep the fireballs from hitting her. Fear was so vivid in her eyes Kaleb wondered how she concentrated so on both staying away from being burned, and kicking the rests' asses. When 10 men occupied the room, not including the fire mutant she was getting really tired, and slowed down to almost his speed. She was down to 6 men when she was too slow, and a fireball sailed right pass her arm causing her to scream out in pain and exhaustion, giving one of the mutants a free shot knocking her down. She lay there heaving for air and the rest backed up to get their breath, one actually collapsed from the heat filling the room. The water mutant, the one who got his as kicked just moments earlier, came in and drenched the place, and it's occupants- of course not Malorick- including the feral girl. She now lay there with a burn on her arm, and ache in her body. Jonas nodded,

"She's an Elite, get Tim to heal that burn, and Yen should be back from The Fews' house, get him to "convince" her to join our side. I was informed earlier that we had the traitor in custody, what you wouldn't give to interview him huh?"

"It would be an honor, sir." Kaleb smiled.

"You've never called me sir," Jonas laughed, "Well, too bad that honor won't be yours, no not this time. You have work soon to be done, do you not?"

"Yes I do, but for now, I'll handle her." Kaleb said referring to Shalimar, whom was now unconscious on the floor- he didn't feed her yet, since before she killed Kevin, she was probably starving again…

He departed from Jonas and picked up her soaked body from the ground, Malorick was still there looking at her,

"She's the best I ever saw… maybe even better than you, Kaleb." He said never taking his eyes off of her.

"Maybe, don't push it, we haven't battled in a while." Kaleb challenged.

"I'm up for it anytime." Malorick smiled.

Kaleb rolled his eyes, and walked away, both knew that he was terrified of fire, and Malorick knew that he was the only person that could actually make Kaleb pee on himself.

Kaleb took her to Tim so he could get that nasty burn on her arm healed. Tim was an excellent healer; he healed the victim and passed it on to the lab rats he had. Some die, and others still have the scars.

"We have a new one," Kaleb said, "Feline feral, took on Malorick and 20 others."

"Wow," Tim said leaning over her, "She's a beauty this one is… how'd you find her?"

"She found us, she just couldn't wait to join." He smiled.

"Well, let's get her fixed up then, huh?" Tim closed his eyes and his hands pressed against the wound hard until it bled between his fingers. He hummed a light tune as her body lightly vibrated underneath his grip. Kaleb never understood why he hummed various tunes when he healed, it wasn't required that he do so, nor was it necessary. But in a minute he lifted his hand from her arm, and the only thing left was a swipe of blood from before which Kaleb wiped away with a hanker chief he kept in his back pocket. Tim ran to his rats and grabbed on hard squeezing it as his hands shook. The rat squealed in pain, and soon he dropped it into the cage with a gasp as the rat laid with a huge burn over its body. It died a few minutes later, and Tim threw it in the garbadge, then went to wash his hands,

"I'm done for today."

"Thanks, Tim, it's always a pleasure." Kaleb said.

"Yeah, I figured something was up, there was just a few mutants down here with broken bones and abrasions. That was the second rat to die today- Jonas needs to give me the money to get more if he's going to keep sending people off to get hurt, either that or get bigger rats who could handle it." He complained.

"I'll be sure to inform him of it," Kaleb offered adjusting the feral in his arms.

"Would you? Thanks, maybe I can rest before anyone comes back down here, I had a long day… Thanks Kaleb, you do well now with her, I hope I don't see you later." Tim waved him off as he disappeared into his room.

Kaleb smiled, he always said that to the others, actually meaning it, no one ever visited unless they needed healing. Now he had to go to Yen, he was an amazing mutant, weird but cool. He had this thing about him where he acted real professional around Jonas, and kept the conversations short and did his job to perfection, but around the others he was the best friend anyone could ever have. He walked around with her in his arms checking for Yen in all the places he'd be when he figured he'd just lay her in the cell and look for him by asking around. He carefully placed her the spring bed and left in search for Yen commanding one of the guards, the trustworthiest one, to get her into dry clothes,

"And no funny business with her, got it?" he added.

"Got it." He had said.

He must have asked a dozen people before he finally found him hanging out with some chick by the entertainment area.

"Kaleb." Yen said getting up. The woman next to him looked surprised for a moment, then resumed to ordinary posture.

He noticed that he'd never seen her before; he was surprised only because she was strikingly beautiful. She had long dark hair, and magnificent blue eyes, very expressive. She was tall and in great shape too, she slightly smiled at him, she had a nice smile too.

"I need you to do something for me." He said, and then noticing the girl again, he added, "privately."

Yen looked at her, and then with a questioning glance asked, "What's that? Is it important?"

"I need you to "convince" a certain young lady in joining our side. Will that be a problem?"

"Well, what is she? Like, what mutation does she have and what group does she fit? You know the hardest to work with are you damn ferals and the stronger the harder, I told you that before, remember?"

He had, but so what? "Look, she's going to be with us ok? She fought 10 guys at once while Malorick was throwing flames at her ass. She's good, real good, and I need her on our side. She's a feline, do your best, I want her to listen to my every command. You think you can do that?"

"Think?" Yen said incredulously, "I know I can, I'm just saying, I hate working with you ferals. You guys are just too damn difficult, but ok, whatever- bring me to her." He turned to the girl, "I'll be right back, don't move. I have to do this alone."

She nodded.

As Kaleb walked away with Yen at his side he felt the girl's eyes burning into his back, and as much as wanted to turn around for one last glance, he kept walking until he got to the stairs, and led Yen down. Shalimar will now be his, and together they would go to the warehouse and kill the rest of the team she had once belonged to.

_Well, this chapter's done! What did you all think? I'd like to know how you think the story's progressing, if it's a bit slow I apologize. To those looking for a relationship with Kaleb and Shalimar- be patient! As I write the story is how it comes out, even I honestly don't know the ending, but I know one thing for sure- all of you will be surprised, and if not- then you must have predicted it. I'm having a lot of fun with this story, and creating new things in every chapter even I'm surprised with some things. So please guys, I'm looking for reviews or what ever else you want to throw at me. Thanks a lot again for reading, and hope you're having as much fun with this as I am!_


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X or any of the characters. 

_Before starting this chapter I just want to send out my apologies to all my readers of this story… I did not quit on the story during the time I was writing this chapter I mistakenly deleted all of my Microsoft programs including the Microsoft Word program I use to type them on. I tried to do it on Word Pad and Notepad but I didn't like them. I really hope than during this time I hadn't lost any of my loyal readers, again I apologize for the delay. Now without any further a due here's Chapter 9, of The Night…  
_

_** Chapter 9**_

Yen walked steadily behind Kaleb, and behind Yen walked the ever-stealthier Lexa. She wondered how Spencer was doing and if they were hurting him or not, she silently wished him the best and continued invisible behind them. Her plan was simple, before they did anything to Shalimar, she would knock them both out using her light exposition and then cut through any chains or cuffs they had her tied to and get them both the hell out of there… Simple right?

"I smell something…" Kaleb suddenly stopped.

"What? I don't smell anything." Yen said sniffing.

Lexa moved back afraid Kaleb might use his feral vision on her like Shalimar did when she first joined Mutant X.

"No, maybe it's just the girl, and what ever scented soap they gave her to wash with… I swear I smelled perfume just now. Come on her cell is right down here, be careful, she's exhausted she just got done fighting Malorick, and boy did she kick ass in that fight, plus 20 more almost…"

"Malorick? The fire thrower? Oh yeah I remember now, the last Elite that fought him burned to death in the match… what was her name…?" Yen thought….

"Alyssa Border. She was the water elemental… thinking he wouldn't beat her was stupid, she was the last girl we had… too bad."

Lexa followed all of this as they came to the door with so many guards Lexa had to count to make sure of the number she'd guess…

"This is it." Kaleb said with a hint of pride.

"Jesus. What's with all the psionics down here? Slam, why are you here?" Yen asked.

Slam was a mutant with more strength than anyone had ever seen in the world…. He could lift two elephants if he wanted to without really breaking a sweat. Lexa saw in aw how quickly her plan to take Shalimar back was dissipating into thin air.

"The little lady in there is quite the hero… she planned a little escape and killed Kevin in the process-----"

"But she didn't mean it," Calvin quickly added being that he'd read her mind and the thoughts that crossed it.

"But she stilled killed him, no ifs ands or buts about it…." Slam crossed his massive arms. Rumor had it that his mother died giving birth to him because he was so big he broke the bones he passed through, and it took two really strong psionics to knock him down with an energy blast with the force that'll kill 8 people at once.

"Yeah, yeah, well, what are you going in there for? You want us to come? I think we should, seems like a lot but you should see how quick she is, we'll come."

"Alright, but stand by the door, I don't want her slipping away when Yen brainwashers…. I mean 'convinces' her to join our side." Kaleb and the others laughed.

Lexa moved silently right behind Kaleb and Yen knowing now that her plan might only slightly work or they will be killed just trying to make it work… she silently sighed.

Shalimar woke up suddenly as if someone shook her up. She gasped with the remembrance of the fireballs coming toward her and tried to stand up but saw the straightjacket and chains weighing her small body beneath them down… Damn she thought…

"Aw, don't get up on our behalf… we want you to be comfortable." Kaleb smiled.

It was then that she noticed the 20 or so people in the room, and all of then were built like sumo wrestlers. There was one Asian man though that wasn't as big as all of the bodyguards behind him, but still looked just as intimidating… she decided to stay quiet.

"Well, she's a pretty little thing now," a man boomed from the back, he was the biggest in the whole room, and looked like he could lift houses if he wanted to, "now that she's awake, let me see if I can take them chains off 'er"

Pounding over with each step toward her, she tried to cringe in the corner but there was nowhere she could go. Damn I hate these chains… what do they want with me? She thought.

"Aw, no scootin' over on my account, I would suggest that- when I break them there chains- you not try to escape being that there are about 20 or so psionics standing in front of you."

"What do you want from me?" she asked, her voice sounded hoarse and weak, mostly from the excruciating fight she just got through with… earlier…yesterday… days ago? She didn't know how long it had been since the fight, or how long she'd been knocked out.

Shalimar hated sounding as she did now but it had been days since she'd slept in a bed, and ate a decent meal. Where was the team? Why had they taken so long to rescue her? Did these guys leave any sort of a trace for them to go by? Of course, everyone leaves a trace… so what was going on? These questions stuck in her head and then now immediate question was, what were they going to do with her? Where were they taking her?

"Well there missy, other than the obvious…"

"Slam!" Yen said sternly.

"Sorry, but we need you on our side. We got Kaleb here and he's a feral, just like you…"

"I'm nothing like him!" Shalimar shouted angrily.

"Hey, hey, let me finish," Slam said patiently, "But he didn't even beat Malorick like you did. You're very good; you are one of the strongest mutants on record you know. So, Yen here, he's going to "convince" you to join.

"I'll never join your sick little group go to hell!" she spat. But as brave she looked on the outside she really felt terrified on the inside. She saw what psionics could do to people and the long lasting effect it had on them if they weren't put back on the right path mentally. As Slam stepped forward and snapped the chains with just a slight bulge the muscle, she jumped up and glowed her eyes their illuminating feral color and took in the room with her senses.

No one's heart was a notch higher than normal, other than Kaleb's pulse quickening more hormonal than excitement. Everyone was leveled and stood with in striking distance than her… but wait! What was that smell? It smelled like… like… Lexa! She turned to the scent and lo and behold, there stood an extra person in the room, Lexa with her long dark hair and awkward anxious stance. She was scared and her heart raced, and she looked at Shalimar alarmingly shaking her head and in an instant she knew what she meant.

Kaleb watched Shalimar closely, mainly because he didn't want another incident where she accidentally killed another guy again, and now he saw because she studied an empty space closely… a little too closely. He sniffed the air, and the scent was really strong now. What would it hurt if he flashed his eyes back? As soon his eyes went feral, she turned from where she was so intently staring. Then it was then that he noticed that they were not alone on the far end he spotted the scent he'd been smelling all along- it was another woman. She was tall, and had long hair why'd she look so familiar? Even with his heat vision he knew he'd recognize her. He turned away from the girl as Slam and Yen asked in unison,

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's a feral thing. Yen, please leave for a moment, I want Kittie and I to be alone for a minute."

"B-but…" Yen said, "you said…"

"Go!" Kaleb said firmly and flashed his eyes, "All of you."

Without any further question they all filed out of the cell. Kaleb smiled again at Shalimar who had complete uncertainty in her eyes. What beautiful eyes they were too, he always loved the way ferals' eyes went into their form and how beautiful they glowed. She looked at him but didn't speak, both knew and so did the invisible woman who stood so quietly there that he knew she was there, the question that lingered in the air was, what now?

"Show yourself." He commanded.

"Wha…." Shalimar tried to play coy but he wasn't having that.

"Don't bullshit me!" He walked over to the door and told Calvin to close the peeping space and not to bother trying to listen; he also added a little threat for affect. Then he turned back to Shalimar,

"Don't fuck with me kitten, tell your little friend to show herself or I'll have all my little friends out there to stride along in here and blow your friend into fucking oblivion. Now. Show. Yourself."

Shalimar looked over at the empty space and nodded and closed her eyes. A bright light suddenly filled the area and with more shock than he expressed openly, there appeared the woman in whom he to wait for Yen until they came back.

"Y..you!" Kaleb said, "What… what a surprise…. A rather unpleasant surprise."

"Should I…" the question was directed to Shalimar and she actually seemed to think about it for a minute, until she shook her head no.

"Smart girl." Kaleb said, "Because if you try anything, I would've had 20 psionics blast the both of you so far into your own minds, not even the strongest mutant would've been able to bring you back." He smiled. "So, who are you? Oh, wait let me guess, Lexa Pierce, right? You have to be, there are only two of you on that little team of yours, with that other Laura or something, died in some blast right?"

The brunette looked at Shalimar wide eyed and she turned away seemingly ashamed, Kaleb loved the fact that he was getting to her, he was closer to getting to her completely now. "Ah, she had nothing to do with that," Kaleb reassured, "I have a very good computer hacker, named Hun, he called me a little before I fetched Yen from you he got quite a bit of information on you and your little run-ins with Genomex… or, well, when it was still up and being run by the great and powerful Mason Eckert. You too, Lexa, working for the Dominion… even after what the government did to you and your brother. Poor…"

"Don't," Lexa said a little too loud then lowered her voice, "don't you dare say his name… he was a good man…." She drifted off and he noticed that she didn't want to get into the subject.

Being fair since what he was about to do would be far worse, he let it go,

"Ok, I had a plan. You can tell your team to back off, and forget about Kit- I mean 'Shalimar' and we won't go after you, and that means back off because if you do succeed and rescue her, we will kill each and every one of you. We have more mutants on our side than you will ever believe, so don't fuck with us. Or, you can try the hero thing and get the both of you killed or tortured and killed in the process. You choose." He shrugged. "Then Shalimar here has to join our side… willingly."

They looked at one another and Shalimar bowed her head, "Just go."

"No," Lexa said, "Brennan is searching for you like crazy, he hasn't had any sleep since the night you left. We been up and working hard to find you, and now you're just going to give up?" It was a harsh loud whisper, and Kaleb saw tears stream down Shalimar's cheek at the name of the Mulray fellow.

"You don't understand, this isn't Gabriel, and his little group of mutants these guys are actually organized, their mutants aren't our little run of the mill, they come in the hundreds. How many mutants have we lost in the pass several months now from our safe houses? Nobody wants to stay in hiding anymore; nobody wants to feel alone. Just go, please, if you or Brennan or Jesse get hurt over me I'll forgive myself for it. Go, now." Shalimar said with determination, stopping the flow of tears instantly.

"Ok," Lexa said evenly, "What am I going to tell Brennan, huh? That you just abandoned him, and the team?"

"Go. Now. If you don't the psionics will get to you, and you won't have a chance." She growled.

Without anymore question Lexa veiled herself in the lights around her and Kaleb opened the door and asked Demon (an affectionate nickname he earned when he made a man delirious up until the point where all he saw were demons all around him instead of people) to move aside while he asked Jay a question giving Lexa enough time to slip away unnoticed.

"That was a stupid question," Jay said after answering it.

"Whatever," Kaleb grumbled and closed the door.

Returning to Shalimar, who scowled at him from where she stood, he smiled easily,

"You're gorgeous when you pout like that, you know that right?"

She changed the look, but was still angry; her expression showed that she wasn't sure what expression to put on. He laughed.

"Now, these are the rules: you listen to me, and only me… like my assistant or something. You never leave my sight unless I want you to, I want you next to me the whole time, maybe even after the day's work is done…" he winked, "I also want to warn you, if you think about pulling any kind of stunt like you did when you killed Kevin, I will have Malorick scald you so bad not even the best doctors in the world would be able to put your face back together. You got that? Don't try to call anyone either, I'll know you did, and I'll be very angry with you got it?"

She nodded a brief shake of the head, arms crossed and all attitude written over her face.

"Follow me." He ordered.

As they left the cell Kaleb instructed Yen that he could return to that woman he left almost half an hour ago, and said that he wouldn't need their services any longer. He said that she agreed to his terms and conditions and wouldn't need to be forced to do the things he needed. All looked at one another with uncertainty but Kaleb reassured them and with a snide smile he faced Shalimar and said,

"Kiss me."

She gave him the cruelest look he'd ever seen cross a woman's eyes, and he looked back confident and cocky knowing that she knew the rules and couldn't break them. She stepped up to him and tipped her head up, the guys leaned closer to see it better, she flashed her eyes threateningly but brushed her lips against his lightly, but he pushed hard in return.

"Oh" the guys said in unison, and he knew they shot him looks of envy, in which he was thrilled.

"Let's go, Kitten." He said.

"It's Shalimar," she growled looking at him.

"Shalimar" he corrected with a smile. He let her retrieve some of her pride back ferals needed that.

As they went back down the corridor Yen came up to him,

"Hey, Kaleb, you know where that girl went? Lexa?"

"Not a clue, maybe she had… other engagements to attend to?" He smiled and walked on as Shalimar lowered her head at the news.

_Hey all! So, how was this chapter? I'd especially like to hear anything you want to give me… I have to admit, the whole part with Lexa Shal and Kaleb was a surprise to me, I really didn't think that was going to happen, I' thought that I'd be stuck when it came to that part… I didn't think the keyboard had a mind of it own, you know? Well, any way, as always comments, criticism, and suggestions are always welcomed. Thanks so much to all my loyal Readers…_


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own mutant x or any of its characters I do however own the storyline. 

_**Chapter 10**_

Brennan paced back and forth outside the warehouse; he was trying to see if there was anything he'd missed. No, he thought, there couldn't be… Suddenly Jesse's voice came back on the comring… he'd just disconnected with him a few minutes ago, trying to decide where was the one place they didn't check…

"Brennan you there?"

"Yeah, Jess, what's up?" he asked eagerly.

"Lexa just got back from the house of the Elite, and you'll never guess what happened… you better get back here."

"On my way." Brennan hopped in his car and raced to Sanctuary.

In a matter of minutes Brennan found himself in the lab looking at the- oh so quiet- Lexa. He never saw her act this way before, she was always so confident and in control. For her to be withdrawn and timorous was odd and he found himself wanting the old Lexa back.

"Come on Lexa, talk to me." Brennan coaxed, "What did you see? What happened?"

"Y…you…. You don't understand. You don't understand what a mess we're in right now. I thought by getting Shal back we can end this, but we can't, she caught his eye, and now he wants her… he won't stop, he won't stop…" Lexa mumbled and looked down.

"Who wants her? Kaleb? Kaleb wants her? Talk to me Lexa come-on." Brennan was letting the irritation into his voice and he had to remember to keep it down, but he saw Lexa's eyes, and they told him that she heard it too.

"I was on line to get screened just like the rest of the mutants, and Spencer was in front of me, he was scared shitless. I knew that I couldn't let Yen- the psionic mutant who was apart of the Elite- screen me, then he'd know… he was so strong… He didn't have to screen Spencer to know he was the snitch, and they took him away. So, I did my job and got close Yen, he wasn't hard to talk to as I thought he might be in the beginning. I convinced him to take me to the house of the elite. It wasn't hard like I thought it might be. But then when we got to the house, Kaleb came to him and asked to convince, a girl to join their side, but I knew it was to brainwash, I'm not stupid, I also knew that it was Shalimar they were talking about. So, I followed them there, to a cell surrounded by 20 psionics. I think I heard that she killed someone, and she was so good at almost escaping that they didn't want to risk losing her again. One guy's name was Slam, and he was so big he could've been three people in one. He was a strength mutant, he could've crushed your head in his hands," she said to Brennan, "I wanted to get out of there, but I knew Shalimar was suffering, so I had to stay, I also know how much she means to this team…. and to us…" she mumbled the last part letting Brennan on to think that maybe Lexa really did like the others, more than she was letting everyone on to think.

"So" she continued, "I went inside and saw what they did to her. She was in a straight jacket with huge chains wrapped around her. Oh my God, I never saw her look that way before, she was unconscious until a psionic hit her with his power to wake her up. She looked so surprise. She was even a bit skinnier, I don't think she ate in a few days… she looked so scared." Lexa stopped to sigh, then went on, controlling her voice, "she was trying to move but the chains were too heavy, and she must've been very weak- she couldn't even stand… Slam, walked over to her, he acted like he never saw a woman before, you should've seen the way he looked at her, if it wasn't for Yen wanting to hurry up to get back to me… well, you never know. I don't think Kaleb would've allowed him continue any further anyway he wanted Shal to himself. When Slam broke the chains that's when Shalimar jumped up ad glowed her eyes, and she noticed me. I think she was so surprised and shocked and probably happy to see me that she forgot that there was more than a dozen psionics in the room and one more feral. That's when Kaleb went feral, and saw me. I swear guys, I thought I was lunchmeat, but he asked everyone to leave… Then he made me show myself and Shalimar couldn't fake that I wasn't there, I mean, he saw me. So that was when I showed myself, only Kaleb saw me though the others were outside and didn't hear or noticed a thing. He knows about us… about the team, about our real lives, he has a mutant a computer mutant who dug so far deep into our system that he knows everything from us. But he won't use it against us… no all he wants is Shalimar. He told me send you guys the message that we have to forget about Shalimar, or he'll kill us all, even her I think, and whatever they did to her she believed him. She told me to leave; she couldn't even look me in the eye though, not even when I mentioned your names… They did something to her, Kaleb doesn't even call her by her name, he calls her "kitten" or kitty or something, and I think that gets to her. In the end, he made Shalimar agree to join their side willingly, and do what he asks of her to do. That's when I ran out of there completely, I'm really sorry guys, I'm so sorry." Lexa trailed off, and that was they heard of her after that, she left and trailed off to her room.

"Damn it!" Brennan yelled and knocked everything off of the table breaking anything that was glass as it shattered on the floor. "We're getting her back! I swear we are, I don't care if we have to burn that place down!"

"Brennan, calm down." Jesse said. "We aren't going to let her leave just like that, she was the first mutant on this team! She was the only one who stood by Adam's side every step of the way… we won't let her give up so easily. Now, on Lexa's story, I think that Kaleb's main attraction to her isn't love or looks; it's the feral connection they share. He's a canine; automatically he feels to be the dominant and since she's a dominant and feisty, he's drawn to her and enjoys seeing her being put down, to be put in her place. Now he wants her to be on the team but the only enjoys it if she's going to fight with him the whole time. Now, since Shalimar is a very attractive woman, well, he enjoys it a whole lot more. If I'm correct, maybe hope's not all lost, she's not brainwashed, and so she can still have a chance to escape. What do you say? Still on board as team?"

"Yeah, but let's hurry. We need her back- now." Brennan stressed, "She's suffering, she might give up…"

"No, she's a fighter. That won't happen." Jesse smiled.

Jonas was sitting at his desk, Victor was already on his job, and very happy to back in the game. Chip was a bit angry however that he was out and his brother was in, but that was his fault, Jonas thought; let him go work at Mc Donald's. There was a knock on the door, and Kaleb walked in with the girl at his side… what was her name?

"Well," Jonas said getting up, "Victor's in the game, and I suppose so is she…?"

"Shalimar? Yes. She agreed willingly to be apart of us." Kaleb said proudly.

Shalimar… he made a mental note of that, "Kaleb you know the rules, she must be brainwashed into it, no acceptations. There's too much of a risk."

"Oh, but she won't be causing a problem I have all the information on her teammates and her for her to risk revenge on us. I'll send someone to kill them all if she wants to be stupid… especially her little boyfriend, the Mulray guy."

"He's not my boyfriend." She muttered.

"Shut up." He instructed, "Don't worry, we have a nice little understanding between us, she's going to be my little apprentice."

Jonas wasn't so sure about this but he was not one to argue with Kaleb's judgment, Kaleb got him out of some pretty tight spots before, so Jonas nodded.

"I want you to get the supplies to the other houses and get the Chosen on sending out a memo to get all the houses together- we need to start to form our battle strategies. The time is coming; I also want a count on how many are in all of the houses. Let's get to work…

"You got it Jonas, I'm going to get Seth to do some work, he's been free for the last day or so, he needs some work. I'll check in later." Kaleb turned and so did Shalimar at his heels she heaved a sigh as she did so, and for a second he actually felt sorry for her… but that was only for a second.

Jonas turned back to his table and continued filling some paper work he had to do, there was going to a game on in a few hours and he wanted to make sure he had a chance to catch it.

Spencer laid his head back for so long he caught a cramp in it. He couldn't move though he was strapped in mid air by arms and legs stretched out. It was no use trying to use his powers to get out of his soon to be painful situation, because they had some sort of black device stapled in the back of his neck that turned his powers off and on at will, and that could also surge pain through out his body… he forgot the name though but he didn't think the name was very important so much as to how harmful it was to his body.

In then walked three mutants from the Elite, Dr. Quinton, Desmond, and Fred, three mutants not afraid to see a little blood. Spencer began t cry,

"Please don't… don't hurt me!"

Fred laughed.

"Stop crying you pussy." Desmond said angrily, "we should cut your head off nice and neat, but no, Jonas wants the torture method… so I guess we have to stick to that."

"N… no please let me go, I'm a rat I know but I'll never tell a soul, I swear! Never again, it was a mistake I was stupid! Please!"

Dr. Quinton sighed, "I'm sorry but I'm afraid that's not how it works around here. You could've just left and nobody would've cared or noticed for the matter. But… no. No, you had to go and try to shut down all of Jonas' s hard work to make mutants' lives easier, well now you'll pay."

The Dr then began to work some of the machine that was holding him together, Desmond was laughing and suddenly the steel turned ice cold, and Spencer saw that Desmond was doing it, his eyes turned as icy as the steel was now. Spencer screamed as the pain radiated through him, he could feel his heart pound slower. Then, suddenly, the steel warmed up, but gradually grew from toasty to white hot, and burns came up on his body. It was a surreal scream that echoed from his body that even he couldn't describe. Desmond's eyes were now as hot as the flames that pierced through Spencer's skin. There was nothing that Spencer was thinking of at the moment but dying. Yes, Spencer actually wanted to die now as the heat went away and the machine was stretching his limbs to their limits. It was going so slow and so steadily he passed out from the pain.

Suddenly however, he was shaken awake roughly. It was Fred, standing below and grinning,

"Aw, don't fall asleep, your gonna miss the best part…"

Spencer was horrified that they could- that they would- put him through this much agony. The machine stretched further and he felt his bones crack and some break like twigs and his frostbite and burns begin to break and rip horribly.

"P…. ple…please," he whispered, "Please stop this."

"Aw, I don't think so snitch." Desmond sneered.

Then the machine finished its job as it snapped a ripped off all four of Spencer's limbs and his torso fell to the floor and twitched horribly for about two minutes, but he actually died in one.

"That was awesome!" Desmond cried, "Did you guys see that? Did you? Wow!"

"Yes." Dr. Quinton smiled curtly, "Well, lets get the cleaners in here to get this mess off of the floor. I think there's another appointment scheduled here in about two hours, we better go."

"Will it be as good as this one?" Desmond asked, it was clear that this was his first torture session. He would soon find out all the gruesome yet effective way to torture people.

"I haven't heard anything about it." Dr. Quinton dismissed the subject.

"I'll tell you how it goes," Fred smiled, a not so pleasant smile, "I'll be doing that job too."

Desmond grinned at this and the three left out the room to fetch the cleaners.

Lexa really hoped Shalimar was okay. She wasn't acting herself at all lately, and she really wanted to get back into the swing of things. She wanted to bother the rest of the team like she always did, and she wanted Jesse to play around with her like he had a few weeks ago when he stole her organizer and pretended to know nothing of it until his laptop went missing, then he went into "confession". She smiled at the thought now and how his cute boyish features showed he was sincerely sorry for this adolescent deed and made an empty promise to never do it again. His eyes glowed when he got it back and as he strolled back to his lab he said very proudly,

"My fingers were crossed."

She laid on her bed not moving, and just took the sight of her room and wondered how Spencer was doing, she hoped he was alright, she didn't think they'd do any serious harm to him, I mean, it wasn't as if he told an entire government body, she thought. She dismissed the thought of Spencer and continued to wonder about Shalimar. Was she all right? Were they hurting her? Doing something to her that was against her will? Make her recruit someone? The questions lingered in her mind as Jesse suddenly called her on her comring,

"Yeah, Jess?" her voice was soft, a little too soft and she struggled to keep it crisp and nonchalant.

"Umm, why don't you come down here? Bren and I have an idea. Why don't you come down?"

She agreed and ran down stairs eager to see what the boys came up with,

"Yeah guys? What are we going to do?"

"We're saving Shal's ass that's what we're doing." Brennan said smartly folding his arms.

"Oh… okay. So what's the plan?" Although she wanted to abandon this whole mission all together, she knew that Shalimar would save her ass if that were her stuck in there.

"Well," Jesse smiled, "this is the plan…"

Shalimar was changed and ready to go with Kaleb to whereever they were headed to now. She was basically his slave and had to do whatever he said to do, she even had to wear this weird set of clothing he gave her. She looked like a belly dancer or a gypsy one. She had her hair down in curls, and a set of small diamond shaped gold going across her forehead. Her top was tight and red, and wrapped around her figure and snapped in the back, stopping just two inches from her navel. The pants were almost see through, and showed slightly her red panties under, the whole red outfit was laced with gold, and to top it all off, she had on gold open toed slippers. She stared at herself in the mirror disgusted and feeling as stupid as an ass in the Sahara desert surrounded by zebras.

"This is so stupid." She mumbled, "What's his point?"

Without knocking Kaleb entered the room and for a moment had such lust in his eye, she wondered if he'd try to move on her. But the look dissipated and he laughed crudely,

"Ha! Wonder what the rest are going to say about this? Can't wait to see their faces! Come on let's go." Kaleb took her hand and she quickly snatched it back and stood her ground, he took her home and family away from her, he wasn't going to take her pride too.

"No! Fuck you Kaleb. I'm changing, you had your fun." She yelled and walked over to the closet with the other women's clothing in it, surprisingly; they all were about or close to her size.

"No, you do what I say, and I said come on!" he yelled angrily.

"Fuck you Kaleb," she threw a pair of jeans and red tank top on the bed and went to the door, "Get the hell out." She said angrily.

"Ha! Yeah right," he sat on the bed, "either you change here in front of me or I snatch you out of here. Your pick." He smiled probably thinking she'd rather leave as is than see her body.

Shalimar had her pride, she had a lot of her pride left, and she'd lose more of it walking out that door with this stupid costume on than undressing in front of this arrogant, cocky self centered feral. So Shalimar did it, she took off her shoes then pants then blouse and threw them on the bed next to Kaleb who looked shocked for a moment, then pleased the next. She stood there in a red-laced bra and panties, and as quickly as she could, she dressed in the clothes on the bed.

"Let's go." Her tone was harsh yet confident, and she hated herself at the same time for letting him see her, but in her eyes, she had no choice- it was either that or letting the rest of the damn house see her. That was not an option for her; she hoped Brennan would forgive her, although she knew he'd never find out about it anyway.

"Come on," he smiled as if he'd just gotten laid or something. Well, his eyes had anyway, she thought, and that's all.

He put his arm around her waist and she shoved it away defiantly only to get pulled to his body and had to face him face to face.

"You will obey me, Kitten. You will because if you don't I'll put you down to sleep, want to how? Come here, I'll show you."

They walked into a semi complicated set of halls and stopped at a huge thick metal door,

"Prepare to cover your eyes, Kitten, this scene might be a little disturbing." He laughed and she figured he was just trying to scare her.

As the door opened however she realized she was dead wrong… When the door opened the pungent smell of burnt flesh and blood were radiant. Nothing in the world could've prepared her for the sight she witnessed. A torso of a man laid on the floor as his arms and legs dangled from the top of what seemed to be a pulling machine of some kind.

"Oh… my…God." She whispered hoarsely, his eyes stared in a forever-glazed shock up at the ceiling. "What… what did he do…?" tears threatened to come, but she held back, "What did he do to deserve this?" she choked.

"He betrayed us." Kaleb said simply unaffected by the site in front of him, "He betrayed us by going to your team for help. He had to learn, just like others will- like you will- if they betray us again."

"But…" the tears streamed, "but he didn't deserve this… he…."

"If you betray me like he betrayed us, that body will be yours next." Kaleb said.

"Wh… what was his name?" she asked.

"His name? Who cares?" Kaleb shrugged.

She tore her eyes from the body and asked again, "What was his name?"

Kaleb sighed, "I don't know… Spencer I think. Yeah, Spencer."

She bowed her head as some guys pushed passed her with mops buckets.

_His name was Spencer…_

_Hey all how was the story? Getting better? Let me know! Thanks so much for reading! _


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer: I do not own Mutant X or the characters portrayed in the storyline with the exception of the known extras._

**_Chapter 11_**

Shalimar sat in her room, or well, the room that Kaleb gave her, thinking about the site she'd witnessed just hours ago. That man, the one that got her so happy to be apart of another mission, then so hated for getting them into the mess that he did, was now punished in the most unthinkable way for his crime. He wanted only to help, to help others and for that he was tortured beyond belief and murdered, no, slaughtered. She felt the tears threaten again and pushed them to the back of her eyes, Kaleb would be coming soon and she did not want to know what he had in store for her this time. He made her run a few errands for him; she had to give a memo to the computer mutant, Hun who took the note without looking at her. Then she had to go all the way downstairs to a basement a get a report Slam was doing and bring it to Jonas.

"Hey, so you're doing everything Kaleb told you to do, huh?" Slam smiled.

"Yeah." She mumbled. She really didn't want to hear anything from this guy, besides the fact that he could crush her head with his bare hands.

"Well, you know, if you ever get tired of him, you always got me here honey." He eyed her up and down.

"I…. Got to go…" she tried to keep the sickening expression off as best she could as she raced back to Kaleb to report her job was finished. After handing the papers to him, the both of them went to the warehouse where the whole mess started.

"Someone was here." Kaleb said as he walked around the building sniffing, his eyes were feral, a glowing dark brown filled with malice.

She too smelled it, the strong yet sweet scent of a man's cologne. How appealing it was, and how safe she suddenly felt as it hit her nose, she knew at once that it belonged to Brennan, and that he'd been there only hours before. She looked up and saw a camera and thought about Jesse, and how he knew to check them once she was kidnapped, she wished that he were watching now, maybe if he were they can come and take Kaleb out and Seth who tagged along with him and rescue her finally.

"Who ever this was will pay." Kaleb spat and turned to her accusingly, "You! You know who this is don't you? I know you do!"

"Never smelled this scent before a day in my life." She lied, but knew how to keep the chemicals down in her body enough so that Kaleb couldn't tell she was.

"Liar!" He stepped forward and slapped her growling menacingly.

Shalimar's eyes glowed brighter as a low threatening growl escaped her throat, and she felt the adrenaline rush of wanting to fight this canine she despised so much. But in a second, cars swarmed the area and told her that she'd die before she even had the chance to attack. Her eyes returned to normal and she said low and angrily, "I don't know whose scent that is."

Kaleb's eyes too now normal replied, "We have work to do."

That was when all the business started flowing and they shipped the weapons in the boxes off to the different houses. Shalimar was even allowed to oversee a shipment that was going to the House of the Few. She wasn't really sure what house that was, but it must've been one that needed the most help, because they got the almost the best weapons, the most powerful. In any other circumstance Shalimar would've felt pride that she was doing something important, but knowing that a lot of civilians were going to get hurt in the process with these weapons, she felt as though she were killing them herself…

Now sitting in the bedroom thinking about the events of the day, or…. well night, she felt exhausted. She really wanted to sleep the problems away, but that wasn't happening. It was just then that Kaleb walked in with a white tank and black pajama pants his hair was neat and curly, unaffected by the day's work, and he wore a grin when his eyes landed on her,

"Ah, Shalimar, would you go get ready for bed? Oh, and while your at it, get me some water." He winked.

Shalimar sighed and went to a dresser draw and saw lingerie, she pulled out what she thought might fit her and pulled a spaghetti strapped tank and a pair of shorts out and went to the bathroom- outside the room. She stayed there for quite sometime and thought he might knock on the door to tell her "time was up" but he didn't, and so she stayed in the shower for almost and hour and a half. She then returned the clothes she'd worn that day to the room, and surprisingly he wasn't there, she was glad. She took her time going to the kitchen to get his water, and snuck a few strawberries from a carton, she ate the whole fruit, including the green patch at the top, maybe if she was lucky, she would get sick and he would lay off for a little while. She took the water up the stairs to the room and still found it empty. Where was he? She thought. Suddenly he appeared in the doorway,

"Oh," he chuckled, "this isn't my room, come, follow me."

She dragged along behind him hating his voice now for certain, he sounded like he was an actor from a romance movie and was talking to a complete retard about simple things. She hated the way he acted as if he had complete control of her and could make her do anything to his bidding. She hated the fact that some part of her was scared of him, because of how strong and powerful he was, and how people did things for him at the snap of the finger, how Lexa did exactly what he said even though she didn't even know him. She hated him, and yet couldn't stop following his orders, it was as if his words had a leash around her neck and guided her to do his bidding.

"Right here." He smiled and walked in but she didn't.

"Here's your water," she stood right outside the door extending her arm to give him the glass.

"Come inside." He laughed, "I promise I won't chase you." He grinned and laid on the bed turning on the nightly news.

Why was his persona always changing? He was made sometimes then others he acted as if he were your best friend,

"Um, no, I don't think so, I should get to sleep we have work to do tomorrow right?" She inched away; she wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

"Get. In. Here. Now." He said now not smiling.

She sighed and walked into the room and placed the glass of water on a costar next to is bed. "There, anything else?" she forced herself to say those last words.

"Actually, yes. Why don't you lay down here with me and watch the news, I can use some company."

"No." she said firmly and forced her self not to go feral.

He sat up, "I said to get your ass over here now you are not in charge here."

"N…no" she said and took a step back. Why did felines have to be terrified of canines? But no, she was human, and so was he, this wasn't some animal apprehension here, right? She shouldn't be afraid of him just because he had canine genes in him- they were not animals.

He got up quicker than she thought he could and had her pinned by the throat to a wall in an instant. "What are you doing, huh? What the fuck do you think you're doing?" His arm raised her up off her feet just three inches off of the floor, "Do you want to die? Because I like you, and I want you apart of this group, I'm keeping you alive. Why don't you appreciate that? I fucking despise felines, they swear they're bad asses and they love to play games but for some reason you don't annoy me as much, you're smart, book smart and street smart, you're no dumb little kitten. But you continue to let that feral pride blind you and lead you into the wrong path," his grip tightened, "Do, what I say and you'll be fine, you may even be smart enough make another plan to get out of here. Why for a feral, felines seem to be the dumbest at times? Now, do I have to kill you or will you do as I asked?"

Shalimar couldn't answer however her vocal cords were being squeezed to their limits and she felt a thick, liquid for in her throat, nausea soon would follow…

Kaleb let go and she fell to the floor hacking up blood, but before it fell to the carpet he was quick with a cloth to give her. "I don't want you to mess up the carpet, kitten."

She inhaled deeply and saw the spots on the white cloth, felt the nausea and rushed to the bathroom and just barley made it to the toilet. Strawberries… she thought. Maybe now he'll leave her alone and just let her get some sleep. She took out her toothbrush to get the vile taste out of her mouth. She looked in the mirror and saw the redness that his hands left on her neck, and knew that it would be a nasty bruise in the morning. She then returned to his room, she knew for sure he'd come looking for her if she just returned back to the other room.

"Please, let me go to bed I really don't feel good," she really wasn't feeling good; whenever she was around him she wasn't feeling good.

"No, you're fine, and your healthier than ever… need to gain back a few pounds, but other than that you're perfect, now get your ass here- now."

She sighed; maybe she should've eaten more strawberries, or said something to have made him squeeze a bit harder on her neck. Regretfully, she climbed on to his bed, which was very comfortable, it was even draped in animal skins, but she could smell that they were thankfully not real. She sat with her legs off the side of the bed; just sitting there she turned her head to watch the television.

"Come on, Shalimar, don't be an idiot, come here and lay down." He said gently, she wanted so badly to slap him… just once… maybe twice.

She sighed and lay down on the pillow next to his but kept a considerable length away from him. Some African American woman on the television was reporting on some weird tragedy that happened this morning where a young boy and his friend were killed by lightning. But Shalimar wasn't paying attention, she was wrapped up in her own thoughts until that familiar yet irritating scent hit her nose, and she sat up looking at the doorway her eyes went feral and she growled.

"Hey, Kal…" Seth stopped mid sentence when he saw Shalimar and yelled running. Shalimar needed someone to hit, and she didn't hold back from the chase.

She chased after him, Kaleb on her heels also yelling for the both of them to stop but it wasn't long until Shalimar seized Seth and started pounding on him, she'll take the consequences later, she decided, she just wanted to relieve some stress. Besides, she enjoyed Seth's whimpers as her fist landed on different parts of his face.

"HEY!" Kaleb yelled, and yanked Shalimar with one arm around her waist, "what is wrong with you two! You are not animals!" He had Shalimar tight against himself and didn't take notice to her struggles. Seth was now getting off of the floor wiping the blood from his lips and whined when he saw some dripping down the side of his face. Kaleb laughed, "Aw Seth, you can't handle a little bit of blood? She was just playing with you, weren't you, kitten?"

Shalimar looked back at him with glowing feral eyes.

"Look, Seth she's a bit frustrated she needed to relieve some stress… and it just so happened to be that it was on your face." He was quiet for a minute then exploded in laughter. After gaining his composer he said, "Now, Sethy-boy what was it that you wanted to say to me before our friend here wanted to play cat and mouse with you?"

"I… just wanted to say that all the houses are ready for the date we scheduled for the attack on the… you know what…" he stuttered.

"Excellent." Kaleb said, "Did you report to Jonas about this?"

"Yes, sir." Seth slightly bowed. Then inched away at seeing Shalimar's still glowing eyes.

"Good, take the rest of the night off will you? It's almost midnight." He yanked Shalimar like a rag doll back to his room and closed the door. Throwing her onto the bed he climbed in after her and turned the TV off and put on a jazz station on the radio.

"We better get ready to sleep, we have a long day tomorrow." He dimmed the lights considerably low, and went under the fur blankets.

"I want to go to my own room." Shalimar stated angrily.

"I know you do, but that's not happening. Your going to stay here with me, I miss having a beautiful woman to wake up to in the morning. I want you to be that woman, besides, you should be lucky I don't kill you for pulling that stunt you did a few minutes ago."

"He asked for it." She shrugged. She closed her eyes momentarily, she just couldn't keep her mouth shut… damn, she thought, I really miss Brennan, where was he? Was he even thinking about her? Did he even care that she was going to go to bed with another guy in the bed? No, because he doesn't know this is happening….

"Now," Kaleb said, "Lay down and go to sleep."

Shalimar did and stayed awake for a long time in a very uncomfortable position. She was waiting… waiting for him to sleep… waiting to snap his neck at first chance… then she'd run like hell out of there. That's what she was going to do… that was her plan A… Plan B? Well, she'd think of that when it was necessary to do so.

In almost two hours the pheromone he released from his body was strong and she got up slowly grateful that the bed was new and didn't make a single creek. She put one leg over his waist careful not to touch him, and took a deep breath- the scent was still strong. Here we go, she thought. She bent down to grab his head in her hands…. He was so sound asleep…. She held her breath…. His breaths were smooth and steady… she grabbed his head quickly and before she knew it, she was flat on her back, as Kaleb straddled her waist and pinned her wrist down with one hand above her head, against the headboard.

"Hello, Kitten," Kaleb said in a voice that sounded as if he never slept at all that night. "Couldn't sleep?"

Shalimar banged her head against the pillow in aggravation and let out a frustrating moan, trying to hold back the tears of disappointment that threatened to appear.

"You know, kitten, I was expecting something from you tonight, but I didn't think you had the guts to try to kill me. You know, since tried to take something from me… I might as well try to take something from you." His eyes roamed her face and her body. Her shirt was raised an inch above her stomach, and her legs rested on each side of him. She looked at the position in loath, she instantly regretted straddling him and tried to think of another way that could've been better.

"Why don't you just kill me, huh? Do yourself that favor; I'll never be what you want me to be. I'll never accept your little sick group." Shalimar snarled.

Kaleb laughed, "You're not really apart of the Elite, well you are, but your more or less mine, like my pet or something, you keep me entertained when I'm bored, or do as I ask you to. Now, you tried to take me life, and it's only a fair exchange for you to give me something back."

Shalimar looked at him horrified, with full knowledge of his intent, even his scent changed, and so did his heart rate and body language. She hated herself even more now for going through with Plan A… she now regretted not making a plan B.

"No, please, I'll do anything. Don't do this." She tried to inch away to move but he was too strong… damn canines, she thought.

"Aw, come on it's been a while for me," he smelled her neck, "Mmm, maybe it's been a long time for you too."

She looked away, there had to be a way to get out of this… any way, some way…. She thought hard as his hands went over her stomach then touched the side of her face. Damn, she thought, is this really going to happen? No, it can't! Brennan….

Kaleb reached over to a nearby draw and pulled out a small bottle,

"I knew I might need this for you." He smiled.

She saw a bottle with clear liquid with a tiny cork in the top, "What…? Wait; please don't we can do this another night. Please…. Not now…. No…." Tears streamed down to her ears and a flash back came suddenly of a horrible incident that happened to her as a teenager before Adam gratefully found her. Panic struck her body intensely and she resisted and tried to pull away, but he turned feral and held her tightly, his canine strength overpowering her feline agility.

"Here we go kitty," he popped open the cork and forced her mouth open with the hand that held her wrists together. She thrashed and lashed out frantically and tried to yell but he poured the liquid into her mouth and she tried to spit it out or to hack it out, but he pressed down on her mouth and nose hard until she swallowed it unwillingly. He let go satisfyingly, and got off of her. She sat up and started coughing and wiping the excess liquid from the sides of her mouth.

"What did you give me?" She said and her eyes went feral.

"Don't you feel the effects? Isn't it obvious?" Kaleb smiled.

She suddenly did, and it made her want to lie back down, but she tried not to she couldn't let him have her… what would Brennan think of her afterwards? He would never want her then, he wouldn't think of her the same again.

"Please, I'm sure you can have any girl you want, th…then," the drug was starting taking effect, "why me? Don't do this, I promise I won't try anything again, ok? Promise." She lied.

"Sure," Kaleb laughed. "But there's something you don't get… We are ferals… not animals per say, but admit, it's a big part of us, it's who we are. So, when I saw you, I wanted you- badly. But I know I can't have you, because we are on the opposite sides it makes things complicated, and the fact that you have that boyfriend… Mulray."

"He's not my…" the drug was working fast. "b…boyfriend."

"Oh, well, there is some attraction there, I know it, and I saw it your eyes. He's lucky to have such a beautiful woman like you after him. But I'm going to ask you this… while you're still coherent, I can tell that pretty soon you won't be. Why isn't he here right now rescuing you? Why send that woman? He must not love you like you think he does…"

"N… no. He…. Does…. Love…" but she couldn't finish the sentence, she felt the odd sensation of liquid trickle down the side of her face and slowly realized that they were tears, she tried to make them stop… she shouldn't be crying she should be doing something. Run, she should run, but she couldn't move everything around her was cloudy and mind was foggy. She felt Kaleb's touch on her body, then his lips on hers and she thought she was pushing him away, but it turned out she was trying to sit up, and was only pressing harder on the kiss. More tears flowed down the sides of her face, and her head was spinning. What was happening now? She felt her eyes go feral and a low growl escaped her throat. The fur felt nice against her skin, and the warmth made her feel sleepy. But she realized that she was slowly forgetting something… what was it? Skin, she felt skin against hers, soft but hard, very muscular, and it was pulling her somewhere, she didn't know where. What was that? Some light was off to the side and she tried to turn her head towards it but it seemed impossible, why? Was she tied up? No… not tied up, wrapped up… in what?

Shalimar sat up suddenly heart racing and body shivering, what happened? Suddenly she looked down and saw that she wasn't wearing anything. She gasped and grabbed for the covers frantically trying to remember what happened last night. She held her head for a minute to ease the slow throb that began to come. The sun shown brightly threw the window and she tried to think of anything that could trigger a memory. Suddenly, Kaleb stirred beside her and she tried to get up as quick as she could while still holding the covers to her body but fell out of the bed in the process.

"Good morning." Kaleb smiled from the bed.

Shalimar leaped up clutching the sheet to her body, "What did you do to me?"

"Nothing you didn't deserve." He replied. He looked at her and smiled, but didn't say anything else.

Her eyes went feral and she jumped on him furiously, "What did you do! You're sick! I hate you, I hate you!" She started beating him intensely.

"Calm down, maybe you should go take a shower and meet me down stairs in half an hour." He grabbed a nearby towel and wrapped it around his waist before going into his bathroom.

Shalimar went immediately to the shower and scrubbed her skin hard with soap and water. She didn't feel differently, but just knowing that he saw her and touched her made her feel even more filthy, and compulsively she scrubbed again. And again. She scrubbed so hard her skin started to bleed on certain parts on her arm. Her neck was tender and bruised from when he choked her last night… twice. After she decided that it had been long enough she dressed quickly and finished up her bathroom needs and went to go down stairs, it was then that she smelled something, no… someone.

Shalimar's heart jumped in her throat, Brennan… where was he? She was sure that was his scent, but where was he? Excitement filled her body, and she wanted so badly to call his name.

"Shalimar!" Kaleb called, "Come on Kitten, it's time to work."

She cursed under her breath and followed the revolting voice. She absolutely hated him now, and she would find a way to kill him.

"Brennan…" she whispered, "Where are you…?" The she slowly walked to Kaleb on the other side of the house.

On another side ofthe door, Brennan watched Shalimar go to Kaleb, and it took all Lexa's effort to keep him from calling her. Brennan's heart broke at the site of her now; she was skinnier and so much miserable. He wanted to show her that he didn't abandon her to show her that he planned to rescue her the whole time with Lexa and Jesse's help. He sent out a comforting word to her, and hoped that in some way she would know that he didn't desert her that he was with her the whole time. Brennan nodded towards Lexa, and they both slipped out into the corridor where Shalimar stood just moments ago, and followed her path…

_So, everyone, what do you think? I know, the story's getting there now, about to end. But please, give me your feed back on this, I know it's a bit complicating with Kaleb and Shalimar… but hey, what are you going to do with ferals right? Lol, please, comment, criticism and suggestions are all welcomed here._


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X or any of their characters.

_Hey all, I know I usually leave messages at the end of the story but I just wanted to thank all of those whose responses have been so helpful to me. I love the feedback I'm getting on this story; I seriously didn't think it would be like this. But I do ask, that more respond to me, I fixed it so that even anonymous users can comment, so please, don't be a stranger! Special thanks to **Supernatural- Baby**, **xXxUnReQuitEdxXx **and **FeralElektra **for your continuous comments and suggestions. _

Chapter 12 

Brennan and Lexa crept into the corridor of the huge house. They had to be extra careful since the mutants here were super mutants and experts at using their powers. Brennan was still thinking about Shalimar and how weak and broken she looked. How could that happen in just a few days or so? What did they do to her to break her spirit like that? Shalimar was beautiful; she was the most beautiful woman Brennan had ever seen. He loved everything about her; she was gorgeous, kind, feisty, playful, caring, and Brennan's dream girl. He'd never had the guts to tell her all of this of course before, but maybe soon over a nice dinner, or a great nightclub, he'll reveal how he truly feels about her.

"Lexa," he whispered, "You have to conceal us."

She did as she was told and they together followed Shalimar's path to where they soon found her and Kaleb sitting at the table eating breakfast. But as Brennan soon saw, Kaleb was the only one eating as Shalimar drank some contents from a coffee cup. She never looked at him, not a scowl or smile, no content or anxious looks, she kept her eyes down, and sipped her drink quietly.

"How do you feel this morning?" Kaleb smiled.

"Go to hell." She mumbled.

"Aw, don't be so upset, you don't even know what happened."

"I don't want to know. Stop talking to me." She flashed her eyes for a brief moment.

Both Brennan and Lexa knew better than to even breathe a wrong way, two ferals who were quite strong, would definitely hear that. They had to wait for the right moment to attack or they certainly wouldn't get out of there alive.

"Come on kitten, aren't you the least bit curious? We had a lot of fun." He teased.

Brennan felt anger surge to its peak and it took all his strength to keep down, Lexa winced as he squeezed her hand to control him. He loosened his hold.

"I'll be waiting in the hallway when you're done." She growled.

"Aw, kitten I was just teasing you. Come sit back down, I need someone to talk to."

"Go find yourself a friend." She shrugged.

As soon as she turned around Brennan noticed a huge nasty looking bruise formed on her neck. It was dark, and round and he wanted so badly to attack Kaleb there and then.

"Well," Kaleb said, "I was thinking that maybe me and you can be friends. You know, since neither of us has them anymore."

"I do have friends." Shalimar insisted, "I do…." Her voice trailed off, and it distinctively sounded to Brennan as if she wasn't sure.

"Oh? You have friends, huh? Ok, let's evaluate that…" Kaleb turned to her and smiled. "How long has it been since you been here? How many rescue attempts have your friends tried to save you? One. Not only did they send a female to do the job, but also she didn't even do it right! Amateur! They sent an amateur to come and save you. Then she just left, no more attempts to get you. They left you here to rot, so tell me, are they really your friends? They know how dangerous we are, and they chickened out, they forgot about you, and moved on. So, tell me… do you really have friends?"

Shalimar stood there, and Brennan wanted to go up to her and shake her so badly and show her that he was here, and that they didn't give up on her. But no, she didn't stick up for them; she just stood there and lowered her head,

"Then they were smart… you and your group is nothing to get killed over… not even for me."

"Oh, but you're wrong, you are worth it, your strength is off the charts, and your abilities are promising. It would be pointless for them to try to save you know… because now, you're one of us. You're mine, and will help us walk on the government and announce who we are and where we came from." He walked up to her, and held her shoulders, "Shalimar, you know this is right, you know that Genomex and Mason Eckert, and Adam Kane were wrong to mess with DNA and children's lives. It was wrong to take away our innocence at such a young age and then hide us in some cave or underground refuge and act as if nothing were the matter… it's wrong. We want to come out… come out of our hiding places and march on the bigger people out there, the normal people, and tell them who we are, show them who we are, and not be afraid. Not to be afraid of using our gifts in the outside world, why, that's like letting a bird out of its cage for the first time. Jonas is going to be our leader, he's going to lead us all the way, and something shall go wrong, I'll take over, and if I do, you'll be right there next to me, won't you Shalimar?"

"You've got weapons, you can hurt people, you're going to hurt innocent people when you take over, peaceful assemblies don't have weapons." She said.

"Those weapons are to protect us from them!" Kaleb said surprised. "Once people see the amazing things we can do, they'll be afraid, they'll want to hurt us because they don't understand. Those weapons are for the smaller houses that can't use their powers as well as we can. We are giving the people information; it's up to them what they do with it."

Shalimar was silent for a moment, and Brennan was wondering if she actually believed all that garbage that spilled from his lips. He wondered how much they brainwashed her too, while she was here… probably a lot.

"Why'd you kill that man…?" her voice seemed to hint sadness.

"Who? Oh, that Spencer guy? I told you why, he betrayed us." Kaleb shrugged. When he saw she wasn't letting up he continued, "Look, Shalimar, we are very professional here, and we expect for every house to do their part. Now, the Few are babies to us, they don't know any better at times, but when you go off and deliberately try to sabotage our hard work just because you don't have all of the facts, then we have to eliminate that threat. Now, he snitched to your little group, what if it was someone bigger? Someone we couldn't handle? Some branch of the government who closed us down… for good, we couldn't have that. I had to show you that so you could see how seriously we take our job. Spencer had to go, he deserved what he got, he should've asked for out in the first place, not try and take down a whole team with him."

Shalimar once again stood there silent and looked into his dark brown eyes, Brennan watched angrily. He wanted to jump out and kill this Kaleb guy right here, fry him up nice and crispy- extra black. Then Kaleb kissed her, and she pulled away at first her eyes glowing, and Brennan thought she was angry, but then he saw Kaleb's eyes return the feral eyes and kissed her again, and knew it was some feral speech in between he couldn't understand which made him all the more angrier.

"Let's go Shalimar," Kaleb took her hand, "We have to round up the others, the time has almost arrived." Together they left out the opposite doors away from Brennan and Lexa.

Lexa released Brennan's hand and both were immediately uncloaked.

"Um… Brennan, I know I said this before, but I'm saying it now- we need to leave this alone. They have Shalimar, there's nothing we can"

"No." Brennan said angrily, "They don't have Shalimar. She's brainwashed, they made her think like them because we didn't rescue her sooner. We stick to the plan, Lexa, we get Shalimar alone, then call Jesse and haul ass out of here. Let's go."

Lexa sighed and grabbed his hand and cloaked the two of them once more and continued to move.

"Guys? You there?" Came in Jesse's whispered voice, "We should hurry, I don't think I can get by all of these psionics for long, they already think someone's here who shouldn't be. Let's grab Shal and go."

"We're with you Jess, just hang tight." Brennan whispered.

Together Lexa and Brennan found themselves in the midst of the biggest organization of mutants they'd ever encountered. Hundreds of mutants stood in that one room some standing and some taking up any seat they could find.

"Oh my"

Brennan covered Lexa's mouth quickly hoping no feral caught the whisper. A few heads turned at the noise including Shalimar's but it was nothing serious.

Time passed quickly, and it seemed like only minutes had passed as Brennan and Lexa listened to different speakers give their point of views on the situation. After maybe an hour, Shalimar whispered something into Kaleb's ear, they both shared a look until he nodded and she left out the room into a hallway on the other side of the house. She had been standing in a corner unconcerned with the impending future. Brennan leaned in to Lexa's ear,

"Let's go."

Together they went back into the corridor and around the many twists and turns to follow Shalimar's former steps.

"Shalimar." Brennan called in a whisper, "Shalimar."

All he could think about was her sad sullen face so quiet and helpless, which was something he was not used to seeing not on Shalimar Fox that is. He continued on until something hit him hard across the head, so hard he almost blacked out from the pain.

"Brennan!" Lexa screamed.

Brennan moaned in pain, what hit me? He got up from the floor and noticed at once that he wasn't cloaked by Lexa's light. Damn, he thought, what was that? But then realized he was thinking 'who' because when he turned around he saw the tall glowing eyed feral leaning over him.

"So now you decided to come? After all?" Kaleb asked.

Brennan thought for sure he'd find Shal before him, but he was wrong. Lexa uncloaked herself.

"Brennan, are you alright?" she helped him up.

"Where's Shalimar?" he demanded.

"Why would you want her? Look I can already see that you have lustful eyes for this one, why don't you leave Shalimar to me. Besides, a lowly elemental like your self wouldn't appreciate such a beautiful feral like Shalimar, and understand all of her great talents… that's in, and out of, the gym…" Kaleb laughed and winked at Brennan.

Brennan- infuriated- quickly charged his fingertips and launched a high voltage charge at him, but Kaleb was too fast and it hit the wall behind him. That was when he noticed her standing alone in a fighting stance with her bright feral eyes glowing golden feline daggers their way.

"Shalimar…" Brennan whispered.

Kaleb turned around, "Shalimar? Why there you are, come here sweetie, I've been looking for you."

But Shalimar didn't move, she didn't allow her eyes to return to normal, and she didn't stop the low but increasingly threatening growl from escaping her throat. She looked from Kaleb to Brennan then to Lexa and kept silent.

"I said come here kitten." Kaleb barked.

"Fuck you." She snapped.

"Shalimar…" Brennan tried.

"Fuck you too."

Brennan was shocked, why would she say that? Didn't she see that he was here trying to save her? What was she doing?

"Shalimar, what's going on?" Lexa asked. "What are you doing? We have to leave."

"I'm not going with any of you." With that she gave a last look at Brennan and fled in the hallway behind her.

"Hey!" Kaleb yelled, "HEY! GET THE HELL BACK HERE!" He growled loudly and turned furious eyes on Brennan, "This is all your fault!"

Brennan spoke into his comlink, "Hey, Jess, we got to go. We found Shal but I think we might have to force her onto the Helix."

"What? Why? Is she brainwashed?" Came Jesse's whispered voice.

"I don't know man, but we have to move, pretty soon this place is going to be swarming with some pretty angry mutants." Brennan turned and noticed that Kaleb was chasing after Shalimar and that Lexa had started running too.

Brennan thought for a moment and turned another way, hoping he might be right about where she might heading, he hoped he wasn't wrong.

Shalimar ran as fast as she could, they were gaining on her quickly and she couldn't let that happen. She turned down a certain hallway and went through on of the doors closing it slowly. Once inside she broke through the ceiling from a closet- she remembered to close the door, and started to escape through the vents. It was musty and rat infested, she wondered how come she didn't do this sooner, maybe she could've gotten home sooner maybe, what Kaleb did…. No, she told herself that wouldn't have never have happened if Lexa had just had the team come sooner for her. She knew that before she didn't want to risk the whole team's lives just for her sake, but they were here now, which meant they could've come sooner and kept her from all the torture and pain Kaleb was putting her through. Brennan…. How could he just abandon her like that? Didn't he love her? Then he comes for her, he comes after Kaleb's had his way with her and humiliates her in front of all the people there and forces her to lower her dignity to that of Seth's. She wished Seth were here right now, she needed to relieve some more stress. But when she saw Brennan and the hurt and anger rushed so quickly through her veins at what his reaction would be once he found out what she did, she wished he'd just abandon her. Just leave her there with her misery. How could they ever be close when he knew that she was with him? Involuntarily, tears rolled down her cheeks. She heard men yelling from the outside and was quieter that she ever was to ensure a quick and swift getaway.

Brennan… she thought.

She smelled the sweet fresh air she was looking for and broke out of the ceiling. She landed right on top of someone, and twisted her ankle painfully. She cried out.

"Oh…. My… Are you ok?" came the all too familiar voice. It was Brennan.

She moaned in agony, "What… why…. Just leave!"

"No, Shalimar. We came here to rescue you, why won't you let us?" His voice was soft, yet had a certain edge to it, which hinted frustration too.

Shalimar got up, leaned on her good ankle and said, "Don't you get it? It's too late. You're too late! They've got the weapons to all of the houses, the mutants have been practicing for weeks now, and everything is going down in a few days or so. You should've just left me if you were going to wait this long…"

"Shalimar, it was only a day or so, we had to plan it out." Brennan explained.

"That's plenty for these people. Just go, Kaleb's gotten what he wants, he might as well get everything else too." Shalimar said sourly.

"Hey, why are you acting like this?" Brennan was getting aggravated, "I never gave up on you. Do you know how hard it was to find you? But I did it, me, Jesse, and Lexa. Now, after we risked our lives you want to treat us like this? You want us to turn our backs on you, and go home? What the hell's gotten into you?"

Anger was slowly rising each time Brennan spoke, she didn't want it to, but it did. Her big problem wasn't that he didn't save her "on time", it was that he didn't save her from Kaleb on time. Again, she felt the frustrating rise up into her eyes, and it took all her might to fight them back.

"Shalimar…" Brennan said soothingly.

"No." She stepped back and pain shot up from her ankle, she closed her eyes momentarily to fight the sting.

When Shalimar opened her eyes it was then she heard the pounding footsteps of Kaleb and Lexa, they'd be here in three minutes. Instinctively, she ran out the door but not before knocking Brennan over, she had to ensure he wouldn't be too quick to grab her or chase after her; besides, she did have that bad ankle.

"Jesse, Shalimar's outside, 45 degrees right of the Helix, she's running away." Brennan said getting up.

When he got up, he realized why she had ran, Kaleb and Lexa were now right at the door.

"Where'd she go?" Lexa asked.

But Kaleb smiled and began to chase out the door, but Brennan caught him from behind with an electric coil.

"You're not getting her again," Brennan anticipated this fight.

"I'm after her." Lexa said and sprinted right out the door.

Brennan wasted no time; he drew up another charge and sent it right at Kaleb, missing him by a fraction of a second. Kaleb attacked Brennan and sent him flying into the wall.

"You don't deserve her," Kaleb said.

"Oh," Brennan said touching his bruised ribs, "and you do?"

They went at it again, Brennan electrocuted Kaleb until Kaleb broke away before he was killed.

"You don't like her," Brennan continued, "How could you treat her the way you do if you had? Look at her, she's miserable here."

Kaleb attacked Brennan once more, nearly breaking his arm and spraining his wrist.

"I do like the little feline," Kaleb was breathless, "She's very beautiful, but I can't imagine having her until there's at least a little attraction there, right?"

"But you did have her," Brennan angrily sent two powerful charges at Kaleb, but Kaleb was too quick.

"Not quite," Kaleb shrugged, "Sometimes we tell lies to bring others down, and Shalimar needed to be brought all the way down. She was so hung up on you finding her and sure that her friends would come and save her before the big bad wolf- that's me- would hurt her, that I had to prove her wrong. So, at night, when we lay in bed together, I knew she'd try something so I stayed awake, I'm very good at pretending to sleep, and when she tried to snap my neck, I gave her a light sedative that left her drowsy. She only thought we did something, I stripped her though, to make it seem real… and it worked!" Kaleb smiled, "She's not a package though, eh?"

Brennan was still furious and with all the strength he had left he sent the volts straight at Kaleb. Kaleb tried to dodge them this time, but his attempts were futile. Brennan caught Kaleb squarely on the chest, and fried him like an egg. After Kaleb landed on the floor, he twitched for a few minutes then lay still. There were pounding footsteps and Brennan left out the door closing it behind him.

Jesse was gaining on Shalimar but for someone with a hurt ankle, she was still fast. Brennan had informed him of this just a moment ago when he declared that he killed Kaleb, and was prepping the Helix, he'd be hovering over cloaked so that when they found Shalimar, they can just leave. Lexa was gaining on Jesse, which meant she was trying to catch up to him purposely. He ran faster.

"Shalimar!" Jesse called. "Shali…" Wait Jesse thought breathless, where was she?

They were running in a wooded area heavy with trees and dirt. She suddenly just disappeared. Jesse stopped, and turned around. Bang! Lexa wasn't quick enough to break, and it sent them down a side hill tumbling in the dirt and bark.

"Ow!" Lexa said as Jesse landed right on top of her. "Get off."

"You ran into me first," he smiled. Getting up he stuck out a hand to help her to her feet, "Now, where'd that feral go?"

Lexa groaned, "We're in her territory now, she could be anywhere."

"Well, we better start looking." Jesse said.

"You guys alright?" Brennan's voice came through.

"Great, just need to find Shalimar, then we can all just go home." Jesse sighed.

Go home… he thought, and then looked at Lexa, yeah, we need this nightmare to end already.

_Hey all! How was this chapter? Hope it was alright, this story would be ending in the next chapter, so I hope you liked it so far, and give me some ideas or feedback on this, how was the chapter? Thanks for reading, enjoy!_


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